Design Survivor

Home Schedule Week 7 · Monday + Wednesday

Get Out of Your Head

Week 7

Week 7 Dyads

You Already Know This Person
Reading Cases
Challenge 7 Launch
Wednesday: Discussion + Studio

Home Schedule 10-Week Overview

01"Dear Data, Design Vision"Individual
02"An Iconic Opening"Dyads
03"The Heirloom"Dyads
04"Everything Is a World"Dyads
05"Invisible Senses"Dyads
06"Curating & Taste"Individual
07"Get Out of Your Head"Dyads
08"The Ugly Baby"Dyads
09"Less But Better"Dyads
10"Who Are You Now?"Individual

Week
7

Home ScheduleAI as Collaborator

First: 3–4 students share one surprising pattern from their POV collection (20 min).

You Already Know This Person

Three weeks ago you interviewed someone and entered their world. You've had time to sit with what you learned.

This week: design something for them.

But first — how do you know your design is actually for THEM and not for your IDEA of them?

Home ScheduleWeek 7 · Monday

Return to Your Notes

Re-read your Week 4 interview transcript
What surprised you then? What surprises you now, three weeks later?
What did you hear that you didn't fully understand at the time?
What new questions do you have after the sensory and midterm weeks?

You know more now than you did in Week 4. In the 3 weeks since your interview, you built a sensory experience, curated your taste, and improved an earlier project. All of that gives you new eyes.

Home ScheduleCase · Pixar

Pixar's Braintrust

Home ScheduleReading · Woolley

What Makes Groups Smart

Social Sensitivity

Reading each other

Turn-Taking

Everyone contributes

Emergent Quality

Something new arises

Home ScheduleReadings · Fiore + Catmull

Collaboration Requires Design

Fiore: Teammate, Not Tool

Tool

Does what you tell it.

Teammate

Changes your thinking.

Design the interaction for friction, not compliance. The value is in the pushback.

Catmull: Structured Disagreement

The protocol for disagreement matters more than the talent in the room.

How you structure feedback determines whether it strengthens or destroys work.

The Braintrust works because of designed protocol. Your AI collaboration is a protocol you design.

Home ScheduleChallenge 7

"Get Out of Your Head"

1

Design something for the person you interviewed in Week 4. No new interview — work from what you learned.

2

Use AI as a disagreeable partner: Feed it what you learned. Push it to disagree with your direction. Stress-test whether your design serves THEM or YOUR ASSUMPTIONS about them.

3

Final deliverable: a visualization showing a world where your idea is now normal.

Co-Lab Encouraged Any Medium

Home ScheduleChallenge 7 · Process & Deliverables

Process & Deliverables

Process Log (Weighted Equally)3+ friction moments: AI said → you did → why. First direction vs. final direction: what shifted? One sentence: what did AI see that you didn't?

"World Where This Is Normal" VisualizationAny medium — Co-Lab, collage, photography, hand-drawn, hybrid

Brief on the PersonDrawn from Week 4 interview, in their words

Principle Transfer StatementWhat design principle emerged from this challenge?

Portfolio Entry PDFDocumenting process and outcome

Process = Output Weighted Equally

The Process Log format:

Process log with 3+ friction moments: AI said → you did → why
First direction vs. final direction: what shifted?
One sentence: what did AI see that you didn't?

If your final design is the same as your first idea, the friction didn't work.

Home ScheduleChallenge 7 · AI Prompts

AI Friction Prompts

        Quality check: Turn-taking or monologue? Read & respond or override? Something emergent? Would they recognize it?
      

Productive Friction

"I'm designing X for a person who Y. Challenge my assumptions about what they need."

Surface the Gaps

"Here's what I learned about this person: [interview notes]. Tell me what I'm missing."

Critic Mode

"Argue against this design direction. What would a critic say?"

Represent Them

"Represent my interviewee's perspective. Would they actually want this?"

NOT: "Help me design X" or "Generate ideas for Y" — that's compliance, not friction.

Home ScheduleChallenge 7 · Milestones

Before Wednesday
Read assigned readings. Review your Week 4 interview notes/transcript — it's been three weeks, re-read with fresh eyes. Begin designing. Start the AI dialogue.
Co-Lab Training
Available at X-hour. AI-native tools introduction.
Wednesday
Reading discussion + 80 min studio. Co-Lab available. Deliverables due end of Wednesday.
Monday Week 8
Presentations. Process logs reviewed alongside visualizations.

Milestones

Home ScheduleWeek 7 · Readings

Your Assigned Readings

Woolley et al.Woolley et al. (2010)

Fiore & WiltshireFiore & Wiltshire (2016)

CatmullCatmull — Creativity, Inc.

[ Groups will be assigned in class. Each student reads one. ]

Home ScheduleWeek 7 · Wednesday

Reading Discussion

Each group: share the key idea from your reading. Then connect it to your AI collaboration this week.

Woolley group: What makes a group smart? How does this apply to you + AI?
Fiore group: When is AI a teammate vs. a tool? Which is yours right now?
Catmull group: How did you structure your AI "Braintrust"? What rules?

Bridge: did AI change your mind about something this week?

Home ScheduleWeek 7 · Wednesday

Studio Time

80 Minutes Co-Lab Available

Design + AI dialogue. Build your visualization. Document friction moments as you go.

Key question:

"Is my design for THIS PERSON or for my idea of this person?"

Deliverables due end of class or evening.