Kish International Campus

Ph.D. Degree Program in

Industrial Design

 

Introduction:

The Ph.D. program in Industrial Design is planned for those students who are willing to advance their pedagogical knowledge or research capabilities in Industrial Design teaching, design research methodologies, contextual design and educational foundations. The Ph.D. program offers professional development for students and prepares them to be a researcher and leader in teaching Design and promoting Design culture in the society. The Ph.D. students gain experience and understanding in areas such as:  Design research, experimental Design, Design for interactivity, Design criticism and activism, socio-cultural Design studies, Design discourse, Design thinking, confronting wicked problems in a designer-ly way and other related fields.

The program offers a unique supervised practicum in an intensive Design program. This experience equips graduates to analyze design complex concepts, meet deep and tacit needs of the potential clients, and enter the field as a professional.

 

 

PhD Degree in Industrial Design

The PhD program requires completion of 34 credits, a set of core courses (14 credits), elective courses (2 credits) and a PhD thesis (18 credits). The main emphasis of the program is on the successful completion of an original and independent research project written and defended as a dissertation.

Comprehensive Exam

Comprehensive Exam should be taken at most at the end of the 4^th semester and is required before a student could defend the Ph.D. proposal. Students will have two chances to pass the Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam. If students receive an evaluation of "unsatisfactory" on their first Comprehensive Exam attempt, the student may retake the qualifier once more. A second failure will result in termination from the program. The Comprehensive Exam is designed to ensure that the student has the potential to conduct doctoral-level research.

Ph.D. Proposal

The Ph.D. proposal must contain Specific Aims, Research Design and Methods, and Proposed Work and Timeline. In addition, the proposal must also contain a bibliography and, as attachments, any publications/supplementary materials. The student must defend their thesis proposal to their committee in an oral exam.

Thesis

A student should choose a thesis advisor (and one or two co-advisors if required) within the first year of being in the PhD program, approved by the Faculty committee. In the second year a thesis committee suggested by the advisor alongside by the Ph.D. proposal should be handed over for approval. The thesis committee should consist of a minimum of five faculty members. Two members of thesis committee should be from the other Universities at the associate Professor level. Not later than the end of the 5^th semester a student has to present and defend a written PhD proposal.

Research Progress

A student is expected to meet with his/her thesis committee at least once a year to review the research progress. In the beginning of each university calendar year, each student and the student's advisor are required to submit an evaluation assessment of the student's progress, outlining past year accomplishments and plans for the current year. The thesis committee reviews these summaries and sends the student a letter summarizing their status in the program. Students who are failing to make satisfactory progress are expected to correct any deficiencies and move to the next milestone within one year. Failure to do so will result in dismissal from the program.

PhD Dissertation

Within 4 years after entering the PhD program, the student is expected to complete the thesis research; the student must have the results of the research accepted or published in peer reviewed journals. Upon submitting a written thesis and public defense and approval by the committee, the student is awarded the PhD degree. The defense will consist of (1) a presentation of the dissertation by the graduate student, (2) questioning by the general audience, and (3) closed door questioning by the dissertation committee. The student will be informed of the exam result at the completion of all three parts of the dissertation defense. All members of the committee must sign the final report of the doctoral committee and the final version of the dissertation.

A minimum GPA of 16 over 20 must be maintained for graduation.

Leveling Courses (not applicable to degree)

The Ph.D. in Industrial Design assumes a Master degree in related fields. However, students holding any other master degree besides will be required to complete leveling courses that are designed to provide a back ground for the Ph.D. courses.  These leveling courses are decided by the faculty committee and are not counted for graduate credits towards the Ph.D. in Industrial Design.

Core courses: 7 courses required; 14 credits

Course	Credits	Hours
Domain of Design Studies	2	32
Scientific Development of Design	2	32
Politics of Design Studies	2	32
Advanced Studies in Design	2	32
Research Methodology and Applied Statistics in Design	2	32
Social and Cultural Approaches in Design	2	32
Industrial Design and Iranian Islamic Lifestyle	2	32

 

Elective courses: 2 courses required; 4 credits

Course	Credits	Hours
Comparative Studies in Design	2	32
Designerly ways of Cognition	2	32

 

Thesis	Credits	Hours
PhD Thesis	18	288

 

 

 

 

Course Descriptions

Domain of Design Studies

Course content:

General aims of the course

The general aim of the course is introducing different fields of Industrial Design, opportunities and capacities for design research in order to enable the students for evaluating different fields of design.  The fields introduced in this course depends on the expertise of the lecturer or interest of the students, directing them to their thesis proposal.

 

Topics of the course (to be chosen by Lecturer for expansion during the course)

• Service Design and Strategic Design
• Research in Fashion Design
• Research in Interior Design
• Advanced Design
• Design and Innovation for Sustainable Development.
• Design and Ergonomics
• Design for Cultural Heritage
• Engineering Design
• Applied Design in Medical Science
• Communication Design

 

References

 

[1] Taylor, L. (2004) Establishing Dress History, Manchester University Press.

[2] Chalmers, F. G. (1996) Celebrating Pluralism, Art, Education, and Cultural Diversity. Occasional Paper 5, Getty Trust Publications.

[3] Weida, C. L. (2014) Crafting Creativity & Creating Craft, Springer.

[4] McFee, J. K. (1998) Cultural Diversity and the Structure and Practice of Art Education, National Art Education Association.

[5] Cross, N. (2000) Engineering design methods: strategies for product design, Chichester, Wiley      Publishers.

[6] Cleland, D. I. and Lewis R. I. (1999) Project management: strategic design and implementation, Vol. 4, New York, McGraw-Hill.

[7] Herbert, D. T. (1995) Heritage, tourism and society, Cornell University, Pinter.

[8] Anya D. and Melanie K. S. (2015) Ethnic and Minority Cultures as Tourist Attractions, Channel View Publications.

[9] Kopec, D. A. (2006) Environmental psychology for design, Fairchild Publishers.

[10] Malnar, J. M. and Frank V.  (1992) The interior dimension: A theoretical approach to enclosed space, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company.

[11] Michel, R. (2007) Design research now (Board of International Research on Design), Birkhauser Publishing Inc.

[12] Michel, R. Gesche, J. and Claudia M. (2015) Design Research now 2, Birkhaueser Publishing Inc.

[13] White, N. and Ian G. (2000) The Fashion Business: Theory, Bloomsbury Publishers.

 

Scientific Development of Design

Course content:

General aims of the course

Understanding different approaches in order to generate parameters from emotional and qualitative aspects of design, or in other words changing qualitative items of design topics into measurable and objective parameters. These principles, together with other discussions on design science or scientific aspects of design, would not only make the outcome of design research tangible and understandable by scientists and engineers, but also would help designers to defend stronger the result of their work in international symposiums, what can be called as incubating emerging design hypothesis.

Topics of the course

• Introducing Paul Dourish and Embodied Interaction 
• Introducing the role of Maurice Merleau-Ponty in Design
• Introducing the concept of Affordance, its relation to Gestalt Psychology and Psycho-physics
• Introducing Donald Norman and its application to Design
• Introducing Affective Computing, Cultural Computing and its role in Consumer Behavior and Design
• The role of Heidegger in contemporary design studies
• Review on Experimental Based Design and concepts such as research through design
• Fundamentals of Applied Aesthetics

References

 

[1] Dourish, P. (2003) Where the action is, the foundations of Embodied Interaction, MIT Press.

[2] Dreyfus. H. L. (1991) Being-in-the-World, A Commentary on Heidegger's Being and Time, Division, MIT Press.

[3] Gibson, J. (2015) an ecological Approach to visual Perception, New York, Psychological Press, member of Taylor & Francis Publications.

[4] Heidegger, M. (2001) Poetry, Language & Thought, Translated by Albert Hofstadter, New York: Harper & Perennial Publishers.

[5] Merleau-Ponty, M. (2012) Phenomenology of perception, Rutledge publishing Inc.

[6] Norman, D. (1996) Invisible Computer, why good products can fail, Cambridge, MIT Press.

[7] Rosalind W. P. (2000) Affective Computing, MIT Press.

 

 

Politics of Design Studies

Course content:

General aims of the course

The term "politics" refers to the process of presenting and attracting possible investors or sponsors for the research knowledge generated from design researchers. The aim of this course is to help design researchers direct their research toward the interest of possible investors or needs of national industries or governmental or private institutions. Moreover, they would get in touch in global research system worldwide, from Horizon Europe to other systems, and they would learn how to manage their research regarding possible calls or academic consortiums participating in those calls.  Applying methods of Productive Communication and contact with stakeholders, investors, and confronting challenges and methods of generating a network with research institutes or executive boards in the country is expected to be educated. Participants would learn how to apply and align their research with the needs of the client, and they could introduce the results of their studies in a presentable way.

Topics of the course

• Difference between Innovation and Ideation
• Process from Idea to Presentable Product in Market
• How to present a proposal to Ideal Investor and Venture Investor?
• Out-sourcing, Creation of Business Plan and Value Proposition
• Putting Priorities in Research, Design and Corporate Innovation
• Strategic Leadership, Strategic Change and Strategic Creativity
• Knowing Levels of Strategic Management
• Knowing concepts, mission statement, scope and corporate planning
• Knowing different concepts and models of Foresight Studies
• Knowing concepts of Copyright and Patents in Design and contract design

References

[1] Blank, S. (2007) The four steps to epiphany, successful strategies for products that can win

[2] Blank, S.  and Bob D. (2012) The start-up's owner manual, the step by step guide for building a successful company: K&R Ranch Inc.

[3] Crawford, M. and Anthony B. (2014) New Products Management; McGraw Hill Publishers

[4] Livingstone, J. (2007) Founders at work, stories of Start-ups early days, A press Publishers

[5] Ries, E. (2012) Lean Start-up, Crown Publishing Inc.

[6] Kahn, K. (2012) The PDMA handbook of new product development, Wiley Publishers

[7] Mital, A. & Et. (2008) Product Development, a structured approach to design & manufacture, Butterworth-Heinemann Publishers Osterwalder, Alexander (2014): Value Proposition in Design: How to create products and services consumers want; Wiley Publishers.

[8] Osterwalder, A. and Etal (2010) Business Model Generation; John Wily Publishers

[9] Roozenburg, N. (1996) Product design, Fundamentals and methods, John Wiley and Sons Publishers.

[10] Ulrich, K. and Steven E. (2011) Product design and development; McGraw-Hill Publishers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advanced Studies in Design

Course content:

General aims of the course

Acquaintance with new and complementary approaches in design, in a way that their application in design would generate new outcomes in design research fields. These approaches in design research could help the researcher to discover different aspects in design research, including Design by research, Design in Research and Design for research.

Topics of the course

• General Concepts of Activity Theory and its role in Design research
• Interaction Design Themes and Related Research Domains
• Concept of Communities of Practice and its impact on design research
• Social Computing and Situated-ness in Design Research
• Theme of Emotion, Fundamentals of Emotional Design and its relation to culture
• Communicative Action, its elements and theme of Conversation and its comparison to Functional Design.
• Theme of History, Memories and how to refer to it in design
• Theme of Market and it relation with strategic design

References

 

[1] Bagnara, S. and Smith G. C. (2006) Theories and Practice of Interaction Design, CRC Press.

[2] Ciborra, C. (2004) The Labyrinths of Information: Challenging the wisdom of systems; Oxford University Press.

[3] Damascio, A. (2005) Descartes' Error, Emotion, Reason and Human Brain, Penguin Books.

[4] Desouza (2005) Semiotic Engineering of Human-Computer Interaction, Cambridge: MIT Press.

[5] Engeström, Y. Reijo, M. and Raija-Leena, P. (1999) Perspectives on Activity theory; Cambridge University Press.

[6] Kaptelinin V. and Bonnie A. N. (2006) Acting with technology, Activity theory and Interaction Design; Boston: MIT Press.

[7] Verganti, R. (2009) Design Driven Innovation, Changing the rules of Competition by Radically Innovating What things mean; Harvard Business Press.

[8] Wenger, E. (1999) Communities of Practice Learning, Doing and Identity (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives), Cambridge University Press.

Research Methodology and Applied Statistics in Design

Course content:

General aims of the course

The goal of this course is involving students with methods and skills of research in a deeper level and introducing special methods of design research such as action research. They would also learn how to use mathematical models and use statistical methods and probabilities in design research. The other aim of this course is to introduce new concepts such as research through design and new methods of design research.

 

Topics of the course

• Research Philosophy
• Methods of problem definition
• Research methods such as action research and case studies
• Methods of Statistical Sampling Process
• Descriptive Statistics
• T-Test, F-Test and Chi-square
• Regression Mathematics and Statistical Tests of Anova and Ancova
• Probabilities and Marcov Models
• How to write a research paper to be published in journals and conferences?
• Presenting Papers in Congresses and Symposium

 

References

 

[1] Blessing, L. and Chakrabarti, A. (2009) DRM, a Design Research Methodology. Springer, London.

[2] Babbie, E. (2004) The practice of social Research, New York: Thomson & Wadsworth Publishing.

[3] Laurel, B. (2006) Design Research Methods, Boston: MIT Press.

[4] Koskinen, I. (2011) Design Research through Practice: From the lab, field and showroom, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.

[5] Sanders, E. and Pieter J. S. (2013) Convivial toolbox, Generative Research for the front end of design, BIS Publishers.

[6] Chakrabarti, A. Lindemann L. (2015) Impact of Design Research on Industrial Practice: Tools, Technology, and Training, Springer.

[7] Mackey A. Susan M. (2013) Gass Second Language Research: Methodology and Design, Routledge.

[8] Malins J. Gray C. (2013) Visualizing Research: A Guide to the Research Process in Art and Design, Ashgate Publishing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Social and Cultural approaches in Design

Course content:

General aims of the course

The aim of this course is to generate a criticism and alternative discussion for Scientific Approaches in Design. Consequences of mere-scientific vision on human and human artifact would be generated, and related critics are introduced from socio-cultural aspects. This analysis is introduced from the view point of Iranian-Middle Eastern view points on design, all these are entitled as Socio-Cultural aspects in Design.

Topics of the course

• Sociology of Creativity, Social Roots of creativity and the role of social changes in applied knowledge.
• Design as a Language, applications of linguistics in Design, the impact of Structuralism, Noam Chomsky, Contextualize and Michael Halliday and consequences in Design
• Critics of Grammar based or Method based approaches in Design and roots of reluctance from scientific approaches in Design 
• Social Semiotics, Saussure in Design Institutions of Power in Society
• Semiotics of Pierce and Media Studies
• Concept of Discourse and its role in design, relation of sign-meaning hidden in discourse and related structure
• Media Studies and Human Artifact from Baudrillard Studies in semiotics
• Structuralism, Mythologies and application in design
• Post-structuralism and reproduction of colonialism through design
• Deconstruction and its applications in design

References

 

[1] Barthes, R. (1977) Elements of Semiology, Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

[2] Barthes, R. (2013) Mythologies; Farrar, Straus & Giroux Publishers

[3] Dourish P. and Genevieve B. (2011) Divining a Digital Future, Mess and Mythology in Ubiquituous Computing, MIT Press.

[4] Candlin, F. and Raiford G. (2009) The object Reader, London, Routledge Publishing Inc.

[5] Clark, H, and David B. (2009) Design Studies, a reader, Oxford, Berg Publishers.

[6] Chandler, D. (2007) Semiotics, the basics; London, Routledge Publications Inc. 

[7] Foucault, M. (1995) Discipline and Punish, birth of Prison, Vintage Publishing.Nesbit, K. (1997) Theorizing New Agenda for Architecture, an Anthology of Architectural Theory, Princeton Architectural Press.

[8] Illich,Ivan(2001): Tools for conviviality; Marion Boyars Publishers

[9] Kellner, Douglas & Richard Kahn(2007): Paul Freir and Ivan Illich, Technology, politics  and reconstruction of education; Policy Futures in Education, Volume 5, Number 4

[10] Latour, Bruno (2005): Making things public, atmospheres of democracy; MIT Press.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Industrial Design and Iranian Islamic Lifestyle

Course content:

General aims of the course

The goal of this course is to understand the mutual relationship between products and regional lifestyle regarding Iranian Culture and system of beliefs shaped by religion or tradition. In order to reach such a goal, literature review and field studies would be conducted. In order to reach that, first concepts from Pattern Based Design would be introduced. Moreover, the participant would be equipped to detect and deal with hidden cultural and traditional values and reach design solutions considering cultural and religious values, which could be embodied in the shape of product-service system. Having the mentioned argumentation, ethnographic studies of Iranian families ( or other target group) would be deeply analyzed and database would be generated based on such studies. Frameworks and guidelines for Iranian studies would be generated from such databank. The value of this course is that although the researcher would get in touch with academic aspects of design research, but he would be also able to extract the hidden values and directions behind artifacts, therefore better solutions could be generated. However theoretical studies would give the designer the power to translate the results of such studies in academic conferences without possible misunderstanding coming from different culture shocks or conflicts of system of beliefs.  It is expected that the researcher could successfully introduce the contribution of Iranian Culture and even Islamic tradition to the global Design discourse, without being entrapped with Orientalism or other pre-determined frames of understanding middle-east and especially Iran.

Topics of the course

• Applied Research around relation between product and User lifestyle
• Industrial sociology and understanding the structures of consuming societies
• Consumer behavior
• Ethnographic studies and their comparison with laboratory studies
• Cultural anthropology and Design ethnology
• Pattern Based Design and its roots from contribution of Christopher Alexander, studies in patterns of manufacturing, distribution and consuming, Review on methods of Pattern Recognition (Habits and Practices)
• Corporate Identity, Colonial Roots of such a proposition and their reproduction in Industry
• Semiotics of artifacts and the role of reflective practice considering the intentions of the designer/craftsman 
• The role of products in shaping the behavior and culture of target society
• The role of awareness and different aspects of consciousness (Self-cons/class Cons) in system of objects and the contradictory role of objects in facilitating or preventing consciousness, false-consciousness and fetishism
• Researches directed toward criticism of contemporary ways of living and consuming (especially in Iran), in order to seek possibilities of renovation of better design solutions
• Researches directed toward Critics from western culture, the concept of westernization, western ways of living and educating
• Discussions considering Ethics in Design, the relationship between ethics and lifestyle, comparison between Iranian culture and other ethic systems and their application in daily life 
• The role of ethics in product and the reason of weak projection of Iranian ethics in Design

References

 

[1] Clark,Alison(2011):Design Anthropology; Springer Publishers

[2] Ingold, T. (2000)  The Perception of environment, Routledge.

[3] Knappett, C. Lambros, M. (Eds.), Material agency; towards a non-anthropocentric approach, Springer.

[4] Miller, D. (1998) Material cultures; why some things matter, UCL Press.

[5] Miller, D. (2005) Materiality, Duke University Press.

[6] Schiffer, M. B. (1999) the Material life of human beings; artifacts, behavior and communication, Routledge.

[7] Skibo, J. M. and Michael B. S. (2008) People and things, a behavioral approach to material culture, Springer.

[8] Verganti, R. (2009) Design Driven Innovation, Harvard Publishing Inc.

[9] Woodward, I. (2007) Understanding material culture, Sage publications.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comparative Studies in Design

Course content:

General aims of the course

The goal of this course is to generate the possible fundamentals of Iranian-Islamic Design. Based on that a comparative study between artifacts, culture and other aspects of both civilizations would be generated. Such comparison would lead us toward deeper concepts such as question of causality and intentionality in design, contradiction between representative or interactive schools of thought and their possible projection in design. The result of such study could have deep effect on understanding concepts of Iran-Islamic concepts.

Topics of the course

A review on design concepts and Iran-Islamic Culture:

• Studies on Iranian and Islamic Thinkers on Design and Artifacts: (Ibn al-Haytham , Ekhwan Al-Safa), how to apply cultural concepts generated from Iranian Culture, Interaction between Modernism and how western culture has entered results of Iranian Design
• A review on Non-western Design

The concept of Design in Japanese, Indian, China and African cultures. Analysis of Cultural Heritage and results of different civilizations, Archeology and its impact on design and artifact studies.

• Fundamental Discussions on Comparative Studies in Design.
• Comparison between Problem solving difference, from Engineering and design viewpoint. Comparative Studies of Natural Science and Humanities and their different approaches in solving problems.
• The impact of capitalism on defining design and different schools of criticizing such impact.
• Eastern and Middle-eastern Roots of West Intellectualism and Enlightenment and the negative aspects of losing such a relation.
• Strengths and weakness of Academic Thought, possibilities of Interaction between Scientific-Academic thought and other ways of knowing (Traditions from Islamic and Iranian Culture)

References

[1] Ardalan, N. and Bakhtiar, L. (2000) Sense of Unity, the Sufi Tradition in Persian Architecture, Kazi Publications.

[2] Bakhtiar, L. (2004) Sufi, Expressions of Mystic Quest, Thames & Hudson Publishers.

[3] Burckhardt, T. (1987) Mirror of the intellect, Essays on traditional Science and Sacred Art. 

[4] Clark, E. (2011) The art of Islamic Garden, Crowood Press Jani,Vibhavari ( 2011)Diversity in Design, Non-western views on Design, London, Berg Publishers

[5] Jani,V. ( 2011): Diversity in Design, Non-western views on Design; London: Berg Publishers

 

 

 

 

Designer-ly ways of Cognition

Course content:

General aims of the course

The term "cognition" refers to human information processing system, while the term "designer-ly ways of cognition" refers to how designers perceive and solve the problems and how we can model such a process in order to generate a better solution Based on aforementioned, this course is directed toward analyzing multiple levels of human perception in improving the Design Process. Students would be expected to plan patterns and advanced models of cognition and perception in laboratory levels. These patterns would help them to compare different modes of cognition and possible relations between statistical data, field research, user experiences, having defined frameworks. The students could choose the most comprehensive path to solve design challenges, based on studies and previous researches.

Topics of the course

• Design and Information Visualization
• Designer-ly ways of Inspiration and their application in Product
• Bans, Restrictions and challenges imposed on Creative Thought and Design thinking in contemporary education system
• Possible application of Design thinking in Education systems
• Patterns application of design thinking in Industries and businesses
• How to measure and evaluate creativity
• Design thinking and the role of Visual Perception in design
• Different schools of creativity in design, differences with Engineering Creativity (Convergent and Divergent Thinking)
• Ways of Modelling User Experience in Companies, Laboratories and Top research centers in the world
• The role of Human Physics and Information Analysis
• The role of Metaphor in Design Thinking and possible applications in Design

References

[1] Ware, C. (2012) Information visualization, perception for design. Morgan Kaufmann Pub.

[2] Von Stamm, B. (2008) Managing innovation, design and creativity. Wiley Publishers.

[3] Gero, J. S. and Mary L. M. (editors) (1993) Modeling Creativity and Knowledge-Based Creative Design. Psychology Press.

[4] Perkins, D. N. (1988) Creativity by design, Kennedy Recordings.

[5] Diamond, C. (1995) the realistic spirit, Wittgenstein, philosophy, and the mind. The MIT press.

[6] Lakoff, G., and Mark J. (1999): Philosophy in the flesh: The embodied mind and its     challenge to western thought. Basic Books (AZ).

[7] Lakoff, G. and Mark J. (2008) Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago press.

[8] Schon, D. Al. (1963) Displacement of concepts. London, Tavistock Publications.

[9] Searle, J. R. (1998) Mind, language and society: Philosophy in the real world. New York: Basic books.