Compulsory modules

Grand Challenges (15 credits)

The aim of this module is to give students an opportunity to explore grand challenges facing our global society and to propose imaginative solutions to specific challenges in one or more country.

Students will critically reflect on the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals and think about how Loughborough University's Creating Better Futures. Together Strategy might contribute to them.

Students will engage with ideas and approaches to possible solutions from their own programme and gain diverse insights from Loughborough University London's interdisciplinary ecosystem. This will involve solution-oriented thinking and a balance between criticality and possibility, leading to a deep understanding of grand challenges and imagining creative responses to them.

Optional modules

Choose one of:

Design Innovation (15 credits)

The aim of this module is to enhance student's ability to use design approaches and tools for identifying and implementing human centered innovation opportunities.

Sustainable Innovation (15 credits)

The aims of the module are to develop students analytical and critical perspectives in the field of sustainable innovation, and to equip them with the knowledge, skills, and competences to be able to apply these within a professional work environment in enterprises and social innovation organisations. The module aims to provide you with an overview of the emerging field of sustainable innovation in a design and management context and on a strategic level involving innovation theories, models, approaches, contextualised in national and international policies and sustainable development.

Choose one of:

Branding & Identity (15 credits)

The module focuses on developing understanding of foundational concepts of branding, design and social identity. Key theoretical concepts of 'identity', 'socialisation' and 'representation' will be introduced through lectures and seminars in order to explore the complex interrelationships between identity, sociocultural contexts and strategic brand design.

Design Futures (15 credits)

The aim of this module is to equip you with knowledge of and competence with creative methods and practical skills for design as a future-making practice. We will develop your design skills to support critically conceptualisation and creative communication future scenarios relevant to contemporary sustainability discourses. The module will introduce you to different theories for thinking about the future including utopian and dystopian thought.

By familiarising you with practical design methods for creating immersive environments based on future narratives, and scenarios we will explore how design can be a strategic means of considering future sustainability issues.

By the end of this module you will have the skills and competences to engage in a range of professional contexts by using your design future-making skills.

Entrepreneurship (15 credits)

The aims of this module are to:

  • To introduce students to the field of entrepreneurship
  • To assess the roles entrepreneurship plays in modern societies and economies and in an international context.
  • To explore the different types of activity contained within the definition of entrepreneurship, and the main theoretical and analytical approaches used to understand the phenomenon.
  • To examine entrepreneurial and innovative activity at different stages of a business, from start-up to more mature firms, and relate this to wider contexts.

Digital Heritage, Museums and Cultural Industries (15 credits)

This module will consolidate knowledge on the global cultural and heritage industries and contemporary developments, with a focus on the integration and impacts of digital media. The module has the following key aims:

  • Introduce students to the cultural and heritage industries in the UK and across the world and explore their structure and operation alongside their sociocultural, economic and political impact;
  • Provide a critical, theoretically-informed analysis of how these industries are shaped and constrained in contemporary times by social and cultural policy and by technological change;
  • Introduce and consolidate knowledge on key concepts and theories in heritage and digital heritage studies, with applications in two areas: (1) GLAM institutions - Gallery, Libraries, Archives and Museums; and (2) community and indigenous heritage;
  • Offer theoretical and methodological tools for examining the integration and effects of digital media in the production of cultural experiences, cultural participation and cultural learning;
  • Develop understanding of and ability to use conceptual, analytical and methodological tools for engaging with key issues and debates in contemporary heritage and digital heritage studies, from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Choose one of:

Design in Organisations (15 credits)

The aim of this module is to develop students knowledge and skills to understand, analyse and evaluate how design for the service economy acts as a strategic tool to foster change and innovation in organisations.

Students will examine forensic case studies from an organisational perspective, from private, public and third sectors and across different domains of innovation (for ex. digital, sustainability and customer-centricity), to understand how and to what extent does design for the service economy get adopted to enable innovation?

Theories of organisational logics, institutional logics, organisational change, design for services, service -dominant logic, and theories of leadership will be utilised throughout the module and the students will engage in application of these theories and concepts.

 

Creative Producing in the Digital Economy (15 credits)

The module offers a unique opportunity to develop hands-on experience, skill-specific competencies, and industry-relevant knowledge to join the next generation of creative producers, innovators, entrepreneurs, content creators, and storytellers in the fast-growing digital experience economy. The module combines lectures, practice-led workshops, and seminars with leading industry experts that aim to provide insights into the craft and creative development, intellectual property (IP), business models and finance raising, team and event management of creative experiences across screen, live events and performance, immersive experiences, gaming and entertainment sectors.

Students will learn about and collaborate on real-world projects with leading creative organisations and companies (Sadlers Wells East, BBC Music Studios, 59Productions, ScreenSkills, etc.) fostering students career paths and prospects.