The course was fully established in the spring term of 1995, influenced by experience from Apple interface design project 1993 & 1994.
The course consists of two parts.
In the first theoretical part, the students learn about user centered work in different disciplines and methods for involving end-users in the design process. The lecturers come from a wide range of disciplines, for example industrial design, computer science, human-computer interaction, behavioural science and social anthroplogy. (2 credits)
The second part is a design project, where the students work in a multi-disciplinary project group in close collaboration with the end-users following a given theme. The collaboration with end-users mean that the users take part in and influence the whole design process, from informing the design to evaluating the ideas. The results are presented in a short video, a written report, a web page and an oral presentation at a public event. (4 credits)
The 2003 project theme was "Accessibility in public spaces". Accessibility mean accessible by a specific user group with a disability, or making something more accessible in a more genral sense. A public space is in this case a physical space that everyone have, or should have, access to. The five student projects are: