Module manager: Dr Elif Sener
Email: E.Sener@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2026/27
DESN5171M Design Theory and Practice
This module is not approved as an Elective
This module covers visual communication essentials like colour, typography, and layout, alongside user-centred design, including UX frameworks and prototyping. Students will integrate design theory with practice through hands-on activities, fostering critical thinking and problem-solving. Where possible, students will collaborate with peers from another country on a learning task, enhancing teamwork and global perspective.
This module aims to equip students with a comprehensive understanding of how design practitioners address diverse challenges in the professional world. By emphasizing hands-on projects, iterative processes, and critical reflection, students will develop the skills to tackle design problems within real-world constraints of time and resources.
The objectives are to:
1. Introduce foundational design principles and UX frameworks, with a focus on both visual FORM (colour, typography, layout) and prototyping for CONTEXT (user experiences and interactions).
2. Expand students’ ability to interpret and address design briefs at varying scales, engaging with both visual communication and user-centred challenges.
3. Develop students’ practical expertise in planning, designing, and prototyping artefacts and digital experiences, integrating FORM and CONTEXT through iterative processes. Learning activities are structured to support these objectives through lectures, practicals, and online feedback sessions:
· Objective 1 is addressed through lectures exploring FORM (visual phenomena and digital artefacts) and CONTEXT (user-centred issues and opportunities).
· Objective 2 is achieved through lectures showcasing real-world interactive and experience-driven technologies, complemented by practicals where students respond to semester-long briefs and engage in collaborative, in-class activities.
· Objective 3 is supported by software demonstrations, real-time tutorials, and iterative project-based learning, ensuring students gain hands-on experience in executing digital designs.
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes relevant to the subject:
1. Understand and apply foundational frameworks in UX
2. Identify and apply various design methods and techniques
3. Demonstrate ability to plan, execute and prototype digital experiences
4. Perform user research to define and scope the problems in design
Skills Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
4. Apply critical thinking approach to solving design problems.
5. Utilise information from a range of sources, analyse, interpret data and provide design solutions
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supervision | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| Lectures | 11 | 1 | 11 |
| Practicals | 8 | 5 | 40 |
| Private study hours | 239 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 61 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 300 | ||
Formative feedback will be given in every class from week 2 to 10. Feedback-only sessions will be held for feedback before submission.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Portfolio | 100 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list
Last updated: 30/04/2026
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team