Service Design MA

This unit launches your master’s study experience at Norwich, encouraging you to explore leading practices and emerging research within and around service design. Engaging with core design research methods will enhance your critical understanding and knowledge of service design methodologies. This unit focuses on applying these methods to societal and business challenges, aiming to improve services in both the public and private sectors, and develop strategies for collaboration with partners, stakeholders, and experts across multiple disciplines. You will adopt iterative, qualitative, and participatory practices to address complex challenges through in-depth critique and analysis. Continuous experimentation and critical reflection will strengthen your methods within broader conceptual frameworks and ethical considerations.

This unit focuses on developing advanced technical skills essential for idea generation, problem-solving, and practical development in design practice. Through project-based learning, you will engage and experiment in various media and processes, enhancing your ability to design digital products and services. The unit takes an expanded approach to the discipline, encouraging you to challenge technical expectations in contemporary design practices to generate advanced creative solutions. The unit will cover coding, physical computing, user experience, agile working, design thinking, systems thinking, data analysis, and emerging technologies (AR/VR/AI). Through continuous technical experimentation and practical application, you will enhance your practical skills and working methods, ensuring you are well-prepared to tackle real-world challenges and able to develop innovative and effective design solutions.

This unit explores leading practices and emerging research in digital design through reflective analysis and interactive sessions. You’ll gain a critical understanding of your discipline within socio-economic, political, ethical, and cultural contexts, covering key themes such as design history, identity, human/computer interaction, visual language, aesthetics, semiotics, Gestalt psychology, design psychology, wicked problems, globalisation, and consumption. You will develop a range of research approaches, using discursive interaction to inform your inquiry and push your creative boundaries to inspire new perspectives between digital design disciplines. Research-led projects will enhance your ability to synthesise conceptual and practical problem-solving to extend and explore your chosen area of expertise.

This unit encourages your exploration of a range of professional-level technical skills essential for human-centred design and interaction. You will experiment across a range of media, building on the skills and techniques covered in the ‘advanced technical skills’ unit. You will learn the importance of aligning theoretical and conceptual aspects of digital design ideation and prototyping. Through individual and group projects, you will refine technical processes and explore innovative solutions to expand your problem-solving capabilities. Emphasis is placed on creating effective solutions for contemporary and emerging media platforms, supported by practice-based research projects. The unit integrates digital and analogue techniques and various formats, such as coding, prototyping, user flows, and emerging technologies like AR/VR/AI. A research-led approach will empower you to utilise contemporary techniques, blending theoretical ideation with technical knowledge to create complex creative outcomes.

This unit is designed to enhance your knowledge of leading practices and emerging research in digital design. By developing effective research and reflective strategies, you will enhance your critical understanding of key methodologies and gain insights into creative thinking within socio-economic, political, ethical, and cultural contexts. Building on the ‘dialogue, debate, and domain knowledge’ unit, you will explore themes such as design history, identity and representation, human/computer interaction, aesthetics, Gestalt psychology, design psychology, wicked problems, semiotics, globalisation, and consumption. Research-led projects will help you to develop your overall creative persona and assist in developing strategies for conceptual and practical problem-solving, positioning you as a critically engaged and reflective practitioner.

This unit represents the culmination of your master’s study, integrating everything you’ve learned on your studies. You will identify a research question and create a viable project to test your hypotheses, aiming for original outcomes supported by feedback from tutors and industry professionals. Throughout this unit, you will continue to deepen your understanding of the historical, theoretical, cultural, technical, and economic contexts, addressing social and environmental sustainability challenges. You will examine challenges related to social and environmental sustainability and identify relevant industries, audiences, and stakeholders. Research-led practice will enhance your ability to synthesise experiments into complex creative outcomes that reflect your chosen pathway and express an original personal and professional identity.