Ryan Fedyk

This course aims to provide students with the analytical skills to interpret current trends, policies and problems into futuristic (5+ years) product proposals and the thought leadership and communication skills to clearly articulate and pitch those ideas.  Projects can range from how prolonged quarantine will impact home exercise to the future of entertainment in self driving cars.  Students will research and explore an opportunity space of their choosing where they will infer future problems from current trends then create a speculative solution.  They will package their product thinking into a pitch deck and present back to the class.

The class format will include lecture, in-class and out-of-class design exercises that apply the concepts covered in the class lecture and a final presentation and critique.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

At the completion of this course, the students will:

Conduct research and analysis of current trends

Learn frameworks and skills to help interpret current trends into future problems and opportunities

Communicate their thinking by creating clear and compelling taxonomies, personas and user journeys

Create a series of detailed user journeys of their solution\nKnow how to create a storytelling pitch deck with a user centered focus