Hello guys!
Since my time at LiU is coming to an end and I’m finishing off my Master Thesis, I wanted to share what writing an RTD (Research Through Design) Thesis is.
During my bachelor in Product Design, my thesis was “just” a project, but now everything is different. The very concept of Research Through Design is something I never encountered before.
Firstly, your thesis must have a strong theoretical framework it’s based on, and everything you “produce” has to be justified by your readings. In my case, I had to delve into Living Labs, Community of Practice and Knowledge Management, things that might seem not too connected in surface, but I managed to merge them and everything that I produced came from this.
Another very interesting fact about RTD, is that you have to prove that your knowledge contribution is valid, and that was (and still is) quite a challenge! The main aim, is that your thesis will serve as a reference for anyone in the future that wishes to design something else on that same topic.
Lastly, you have to design an artefact, and in some cases it can be a little more complicated. For example, for my Thesis I’m designing a workshop, and that cannot be a tangible object that I can show. So in my case, it’s the toolkit that I will bring to the workshop: maps with all the previously elaborated information and a set of cutouts that will serve as an aid during the workshop. And here they are!
I designed these cutouts on Illustrator and then used the laser cutting machine in University! I love being in that lab, so of course the laser cutting machine was my first choice 😉
I will not lie, this thesis was an effort, but overall it was very fun. During my project I collaborated with a lot of people, and this made me appreciate what I’m doing even more!
I promise it’s worth it!
-V
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