Economics and Design
Description
Instructor
Jeremy Alexis
The dismal science is experiencing a renaissance: U.S. colleges and universities awarded 16,141 degrees to economics majors in the 2003-2004 academic year, up nearly 40% from five years earlier, according to John J. Siegfried, an economics professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.
Much of this popularity results from the discipline moving away from the traditional, calculus infused, impenetrable academic discourse to a world where economics mixes with social scientists, looks at why people dont like to buy used cars, and gets you positions at hedge funds and other white shoe firms.
But, rarely is economics mentioned in the same breath (or even the same cocktail party) as design. This class intends to draw a closer connection between design and economics; as designers, our future work will either create or destroy economic value. We will spend eight weeks looking at the fundamental concepts of economics, and then reflect on how design is related to each of these concepts.
Methods
Primary text:
Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science
by Charles Wheelan
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (September, 2003)
ISBN: 0393324869
Format & Grading
The class will be a lecture / discussion format. You will read one book (listed below), as well as several articles each week. There will also be a weekly, individual assignment based on the class work.
The class will follow this schedule:
Class 1: Introduction to economics and design: or, how I learned to stop worrying and love numbers
Why everything (well, almost everything) we know about economics is wrong
Summary of John Hesketts POV on this topic
Answering the question: where do economics fit into the design process
Class 2: Design and value
Types of value
Measuring value
Creating value
How pricing is related to value
Designing (and managing) for value
Class 3: Design and risk
Classifying risks
Identifying risk
Quantifying risk
Managing Risks
Why design is a risk
How design can mitigate risk
Class 4: Design and finance
Why finance matters
Overview of corporate finance
Investing in design
Financial shenanigans
Financial implications of design
Class 5: The economics of user-centered design
Case studies of economic success and failure of user centered design
Why UCD does and does not make economic sense
Making UCD more economically feasible
Class 6: The economics of Sustainable design
Case studies of sustainability success and failure of user centered design
Why Sustainable design does and does not make economic sense
Making Sustainable design more economically feasible
Class 7: Surfing the edge of chaos: how the futures of design and economics are intertwined
Designing incentives
Designing policy
Planning for the future