About Design Bits
Welcome to Design Bits!
This is an introductory online course about design for non-designers: people who are curious about what design is, how designers work, and how to work with designers. Through seven chapters, we explain the basic definitions of design, introduce models for understanding the design process, and demonstrate the value of design in industry and society.
We introduce the four essential pillars of design today: sustainability, collaboration, innovation, and management. Through hands-on activities and reflections at the end of each chapter, we give you a taste of some widely-used design tools, guide you in thinking like a designer and show you possibilities for deepening your design studies at Aalto University.
Course goals
After taking this course, the student:
Important details
How to navigate the course
We have two foundation chapters where you should start from:
CH01 – Design relevance
CH02 – Design basics
After you are done with those, you will proceed to the section where we present the Four Pillars of design. You can take the following chapters in the order you prefer, but you must take them all to finish the course:
CH03 – Pillar Sustainability
CH04 – Pillar Collaboration
CH05 – Pillar Innovation
CH06 – Pillar Management
Finally, we have the summary section:
CH07 – Wrapping up
The last chapter is all about good design, where you will review the activities you’ve done and also give us feedback about the course.
How to complete the course and get the credits:
Getting 2 ECTS credits as an Aalto student:
- You must register for the course via Sisu before the period starts. You can go to the registration page by clicking here.
- You must complete the course and submit the activities before the examination week in each period. The exact deadline is mentioned in MyCourses.
- An instructor will review your activities and grade you (pass/fail) by the end of the period. If you pass, the credits will be added to your Aalto University student records.
Getting 2 ECTS credits as a non-Aalto student:
- You must register for the course via Aalto Open University by clicking here. Please be aware that Aalto Open University charges a 30 euros fee.
- After registering at Aalto Open University, you must complete the course and submit the activities. When you finish, send an e-mail to designbits@aalto.fi. An official transcript of records will be issued.
- If you are a high-school student, you don’t need to register at Aalto Open University. You can take the course for free and send an e-mail to designbits@aalto.fi asking for a high-school certificate.
Course team:
Course supervision: Turkka Keinonen
Course management: Emilija Veselova, Paulo Dziobczenski (2020-2023), Andrea Bandoni (pilot/2020)
Teacher in charge: Emilija Veselova
Content Design: Paulo Dziobczenski, Molly Balcom Raleigh (pilot/2020)
Web design: Olena Mohylna (pilot/2020), Paulo Dziobczenski, Thong Cam
Illustrations: Jamini Kavoori (pilot/2020)
Web development: Thong Cam, Miranda Kastemaa (pilot/2020)
Special thanks to:
Adithya Vardarajan
Aki Särkiniemi
Anna Pallonen
Anna Valtonen
Anna Van der Lei
Antti Salovaara
Enni Äijälä
Guy Julier
Heidi Paavilainen
Hetta Huhtamäki
İdil Gaziulusoy
Jon Fabritius
Jouni Paltakari
Juha Kronqvist
Juuso Tervo
Katja Hölttä-Otto
Maria Rehbinder
Marjukka Mäkelä
Markus Joutsela
Pirjo Kääriäinen
Ramia Mazé
Riikka Mäkikoskela
Risto Sarvas
Salu Ylirisku
Sampsa Hyysalo
Severi Uusitalo
Sini Koskimies
Sini Linteri
Taija Turunen
Tatu Martilla
Teija Löytönen
Tiina Toivola
Tomi Kauppinen
Tua Björklund
Turkka Keinonen
Tuuli Mattelmäki