Harvard University · United States
Intangible Design: Organizations
This project-based seminar explores how information visualization methods can be used to analyze, understand, and strategize for change within organizations. Organizations, whether governmental, educational, or corporate, are complex systems with often invisible rules and cultures. This course hypothesizes that design discipline's methods can be applied to describe, visualize, and transform these systems, even in contexts they weren't originally intended for.
Through a combination of studio-like projects, workshops, discussions, lectures, and potential site visits, students will engage with fields like systems theory, organizational behavior, and psychology, all viewed through a design lens. The course is experimental, encouraging students from diverse disciplines to collaborate and adapt to new cultural and value systems. The primary "project site" for this iteration is Harvard University itself, providing a rich case study in organizational complexity.