MSc Creative Technology L7 Experience Design Component 1 & 2 Assessment Brief | LBU

1 - General Assignment Information    

Component 1 (30%)

Experience Design Proposal Due in week 6
MyBeckett upload by Friday 31 October 2025 at 12 noon

Component 2 (70%)

Experience Design Blueprint Due in week 13
MyBeckett upload by Monday 5 January 2026 at 12 noon Presentation during week 14

Learning Outcomes

(being assessed by this assignment)

1. Analyse current theory and practice in their chosen area of study
2. Produce work that identifies and demonstrates emerging and established skills in their chosen area of study
3. Critically evaluate and evidence their work within the wider context of the chosen area of study

2 – Assignment Overview

This module is about Design Thinking, a human-centred participatory approach that helps designers to create well thought-through technology experiences, in close collaboration with end users. Over the course of the semester, you will work in a small team to design the blueprint of a new user experience.
The module is divided into two halves:

• In the first half you will be introduced to the underlying theory and process stages of Design Thinking. For the first assessment component, your team will present an experience design proposal, based on your understanding of user needs.
• In the second half of the module, you will explore the tools and techniques at the disposal of design thinkers in order to conceive, create and test prototype elements of your user experience design. The final assessment component is an overview of the journey you and your team have taken and the creation of a detailed experience design blueprint.
• For the avoidance of doubt, you will gain your marks predominantly from following the Design Thinking process and from evidencing this clearly. Less so from the final experience design blueprint.

In order to meet the learning outcomes, you are also required to:

• Engage in weekly tutorial tasks to learn key skills and techniques;
• Carry out academic background research in your own time;
• Spend considerable time with the potential users/customers of your chosen experience, first to find out their needs and then to prototype your ideas and solutions.

REGULAR ATTENDANCE IS ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL FOR THIS MODULE! YOU MUST ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE – DON’T BE A BYSTANDER.

This is a team assignment and the recommended team size is 3-4 students per team.

3 – Assignment Brief

At the beginning of the module you will discuss a number of possible experience design challenges with your tutor and choose one based on your interests. You will work in a team of people with related interest. NB: Depending on team distribution and proposed team sizes, your tutor may have to re-assign team members (this rarely happens).

You will then create a blueprint based on your chosen experience design challenge, following the established 5-step Design Thinking process adopted by d.school at Stanford University. You will not actually create the actual product – only a design blueprint for it.

The 5 steps are as follows: (for a full description, see the Process Guide on MyBeckett)

1. Empathise - Understand what people need and observe how they do things. It is crucial to find out what they do, not just what they say they do. Avoid speculation, instead let users share their stories.
2. Define - Articulate specific, focussed statements about users’ needs. Look out for what is needed in which context. Consider what stood out when you observed and listened to people, and what patterns emerge.
3. Ideate - Generate a large number of ideas about how to meet users’ needs. Allow everyone in your team of Design Thinkers to shine. Try different approaches to Ideation, e.g. brainstorm sessions, generative AI, sketching out ideas, etc.
4. Prototype – Make prototypes to answer your design questions. Start with the smallest, quickest, simplest, cheapest thing that will help you understand what users want. You can always polish your prototypes as you go through iterations.
5. Test - Test the prototypes with users and identify improvements. It is good to test early and often. Adapt your prototypes based on user feedback and show them the improved experience.

NB: Whenever you engage with end users during stages Empathise, Prototype and Test, do this safely and don’t expose yourself or others to risk. Only involve people you know and trust. If in doubt, please speak to your tutor first.

4 - Deliverables

4.1 – Component 1 – Experience Design Proposal (30%)

For this assignment your team will go through the first two Design Thinking steps: Empathise and Define. Up to this point, it is all about defining the problem – do not be tempted to present any ideas, solutions or prototype concepts at this point!

You will hand in a well-designed report containing the following:

Team part (5 pages)

Page 1: An introduction to the experience design challenge and context
Page 2+3: How you developed your interview protocol and an overview of the questions you asked Page 4+5: How your team collated and made sense of the interview data

Individual parts (3 pages per team member)

Page 1: Profile of the person you have interviewed, with key answers Page 2: What you discovered during the Empathise step
Page 3: A User-Need-Insight (UNI) statement that you have developed during the Define step, with three to five relevant How-Might-We (HMW) questions
For example, a team of 3 students would hand in a report with 5+3+3+3 = 14 pages.

The purpose of this report is to convince your tutor that your team has the knowledge, creativity and capability to produce the final design blueprint. It is recommended that you use a slideshow-based format (e.g. produced as a PDF or PowerPoint file) using text to explain activities and concepts.

It is good practice to include photographs (e.g. location shots, mugshots of interviewees, photo evidence of your activities) and illustrations (e.g. user journeys, infographics, sketches of complex concepts).
What you will be assessed on

1. the rigour of activities undertaken whilst going through the first two Design Thinking steps
2. the focus and impact of User-Need-Insight Statement and related How-Might-We Questions
3. the visual quality and clarity of material presented. There should be a consistent report layout and design across all team members.

Your mark will be made up of a combination of team and individual marks. Team marks are subject to peer moderation.

What to submit

Each team member must upload:

1. The same slideshow PDF report to MyBeckett, consisting of team part and all individual parts
2. A completed peer moderation form (only if there are more than two team members)

4.2 – Component 2 – Experience Design Blueprint (70%)

For this assignment, your team will go through the remaining steps of the Design Thinking process: Ideate, Prototype and Test. Any material and insights gathered from the first assignment should be deepened and you must consider assignment feedback from your tutor.

Your team presentation should

• introduce the design challenge
• briefly summarise the Empathise and Define steps,
• evidence any work you have done as a team, e.g. Ideation, creating visual design, etc.
• the work each team member has done individually

Each individual team member will have started from the User-Need-Insight statement from the Define step, selected an idea during the Ideation step, and generated prototypes from that idea. Note that the focus is on depth and quality, not on quantity.

You will be assessed on the rigour of activities undertaken when going through the remaining Design Thinking steps. In particular, you are expected to present:

1. how your team has collectively generated multiple ideas during the Ideation stage*
2. how you have individually refined your selected idea, using question-driven prototyping
3. how your final blueprint meets the identified user need
   Your mark will be made up of a combination of team and individual marks. Team marks are subject to peer moderation.

The length of your presentation is calculated as (number of team members) x 5 minutes. Your presentation should be professionally designed and delivered. Where possible, it will be scheduled during the regular tutorial slot.

Following the presentation, each team member must upload the following materials to MyBeckett:

1.The same copy of the combined team presentation in PDF format
2.A completed peer moderation form (only if there are more than two team members)

*The use of generative AI is permitted during the Ideation stage. Any gen-AI use must be acknowledged by stating
1)which gen-AI system was used,
2)what prompts were used,
3)what the gen-AI system responded with.

5 – Support and Feedback

We support you throughout the module, week by week. Please seek feedback on your ideas and progress often, especially BEFORE assignment submissions.
We aim to give you feedback on your submitted work as early as practical. For ALL submitted work you will receive written feedback via MyBeckett. In case of demos or presentations, you will receive verbal feedback immediately, followed by detailed written feedback.

Use feedback to improve your remaining deliverable(s) and you can greatly improve your final mark.

6 - Marks Breakdown and Deadlines

7 - Reassessment

If your result for this assessment is recorded as Non-Submission or your mark for this assessment and for the whole module is below the fail threshold, you will be given the opportunity to take reassessment.

Your mark will then be capped at the fail threshold unless you were granted deferral through the mitigation process, in which case you may complete the reassessment with a full range of marks available. Information about the Reassessment assignment brief will be issued following publication of provisional results.

The final deadline for submission of reassessment work is Monday 13 April 2026 at 12 noon. Please note that during reassessment you are not entitled to academic support from your module tutor(s) unless you have been granted a deferral. All submissions are to be made via MyBeckett where you will find a Reassessment upload box for this module after the exam board has taken place.

8. Marking Criteria    

Component 1 – Experience Design Proposal

Component 2 – Experience Design Blueprint

 9 – Your Assessment Responsibilities

Declaration of Authenticity

By submitting an assignment you declare that

1. you have completed the assignment yourself;
2. the work of others has been fully acknowledged and referenced;
3. you are 'fit to submit' and will not normally be eligible to submit a request for mitigation for this work;
4. you have read and agree to your responsibilities as outlined in this section.

You must be able to explain and justify all elements of the submitted work. If you are unable to do so for certain elements of your work, no marks will be given for those elements.

Online Submissions

You must submit your work through MyBeckett using the correct link set up by the tutor. It is your responsibility to ensure that file uploads to MyBeckett have been successful. You can check this after uploading by downloading the file(s) from MyBeckett and check that these downloads are correct and complete. It is important that you regularly check your student email after assignment submission in case your tutor seeks clarification on your work.

If your submission is very large (>250MB) you may submit by copying it to your student OneDrive and sharing the file or folder with your tutor. You must still submit to MyBeckett a text document containing a link to the shared location and not make any changes to, or delete the file, until after the exam board results have been published.

Mitigation and Extension

If you are experiencing problems which are adversely affecting your ability to study (called 'extenuating circumstances'), then you can apply for mitigation or an extension. You can find full details of how to apply at Leeds Beckett University . If you are granted deferral through the mitigation process, you may complete reassessment work with a full range of marks available.

Late Submission or Non-Attendance at Presentations

Without any form of extenuating circumstances, standard penalties apply for late submission of assessed work and non-attendance at scheduled presentations. For full details of the penalties refer to the Leeds Beckett Academic Regulations, available from the university website.
For non-attendance at a scheduled presentation, a penalty will be applied to your mark, and you will be given one further opportunity to present. It is your responsibility, within one day of the missed presentation, to make arrangements for this second opportunity. If you do not make such arrangements, or you miss the second scheduled presentation, your mark will be recorded as a Non-Submission.

Academic Honesty

Any attempt to gain an unfair advantage, whether intentional or unintentional, may be considered an offence under the university's Academic Honesty regulations. This includes cheating, plagiarism, collusion and other forms of unfair practice. The serious consequences of unfair practice are detailed in the Academic Regulations, available from the university website. Tutors will follow up any suspected case as per university policy. What is and what is not permitted is clearly explained in the Academic Honesty module on MyBeckett, available from the module’s sidebar in MyBeckett.