---
title: Reflections II - Design with others
page_type: course
track: Reflect
course_type: Workshop
feature_img: /assets/images/2025-26/year-1/t-1/design-with-others.png
img_caption: Yaya Labs

faculty:
    - saul-baeza
ects: 2
---

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## Syllabus

A four-day seminar of four-hour sessions with lectures, conversations and workshops with the participation of renowned researchers to kickstart designing with other intelligences. Design practice and the role of the designer have been continuously evolving. What began as a practical discipline at the service of industry ("design over") expanded to include the perspective of the human user and their needs ("design for") and later evolved into more participatory approaches where the user becomes an active agent in the design process ("design with"). In the context of growing existential risks and challenges, it is now critical to push these questions further by incorporating principles of otherness, design justice, alterity, communities, situated epistemologies and intra-action into design practices. Building on the lecture series, the students will collectively prototype “Other Otherness”.

### Learning Objectives

Students, after completion of the seminar, should be able to:

- Detect, understand and tackle complex issues through design practices.
- Engage with communities related to the matters of concern.
- Situate their practice in the field.
- Engage in strategic intervention.
- Widen their community engagement perspective and learn to work(in) non-human agents.


**Keywords: Other(ness), AI and Robotoics, Parallel Minds, Material Intelligences, Collective Care**


## Schedule

=== "02/12"

    ***15:00-19:00***
    
    Course Introduction + dynamics + objectives

    ***15:00-18:30***

    Lecture and Q&A session with Ben Ditto, YAYALABS Creative Director on Bridging Human Creativity and AI&Robotics. “Science-fiction is brainstorming for venture capital”.

    About [Ben Ditto](https://www.instagram.com/ben_ditto/?hl=es): Ben Ditto is a creative director living and working in London. Ditto’s projects span a broad spectrum of disciplines including moving image, CGI, creative coding, branding, AI, print and live experience to name just a few. Ben’s utilisation of Instagram as a tool for reportage on topics ranging from military hardware to surgical procedures – and everything in between – has gained him a cult online following and propelled him to the realm of “niche micro-internet celebrity”. This led to the cultivation of an online community, Ditto Nation, on Telegram and Discord, as well as a documentary series under the same name. Ben is also the art director of his eponymous publishing company Ditto, and founded Dazed Beauty alongside Isamaya Ffrench. Ditto was recently appointed as the creative director of YAYALABS.

    About [YAYALABS](https://www.yayalabs.io/): Yaya Labs is an AI and robotics company based in London and Berlin. We are building a deep, expressive personality protocol for AIs, robots, and avatars, designed to transcend hardware and software boundaries. Our mission is to create a software-agnostic, fully sensory-adaptive system with an ethical core, allowing a singular persona to manifest seamlessly across screens, robots, vehicles, and beyond. Throughout this process, we are developing a suite of tools and applications that harness the technology and insights gained from the development of the Yaya protocol.

    ***18:30-19:00***

    1st Briefing launch and closure
    
=== "03/12"

    ***9:30-11:00***
    
    1st Other Otherness short presentations (Per groups)

    ***11:00-13:00***

    Lecture and Q&A session with Ruben Pater, designer, author and researcher on Capitalism and Material Cultures. 

    About [Ruben Pater](https://www.untold-stories.net/?p=): Ruben Pater is a designer at a moment in time, when more design is about the last thing the world needs. In search for ethical alternatives he designs, writes, and teaches. He is the author of The Politics of Design (BIS, 2016) and CAPS LOCK (Valiz, 2021)

    ***13:00-13:30***

    2nd Briefing launch and closure

=== "04/12"

    ***9:30-11:00***
    
    2nd Other Otherness short presentations (Per groups)

    ***11:00-13:00***

    Lecture and Q&A session with Joana Moher aka FOME BRUTA. 

    About [Joana Moher](https://linktr.ee/JoanaMoher?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGn3f3zhGwGhYrD6hfZ35KS9FFomIqiVXRnHTVCorB6Uq38JfXZ9v0FG1DAWZU_aem_-6N0Nq1B4I2lfrOPyZm7AQ&brid=Ae5gl_ZKB382r7tsd70t5w): Joana Moher is a sound researcher and biomaterialist behind FOME BRUTA, where she explores experimental making, radical pedagogy, and intuitive approaches to materials and storytelling.

    ***13:00-13:30***

    3rd Briefing launch and closure
 
=== "05/12"

    ***11:30-13:00***
    
    3rd Other Otherness short presentations (Per groups)
    
    Collective feedback and reviews

    ***13:00-13:30***
    
    Closing
 
### Methodological Strategies

- Lectures
- Case studies
- Prototyping
- Project-based learning
- Team-based learning


## Deliverables

Answering to each lecture and provocation, students will work in groups to produce a deliverable, in an open format, that critically engages with the theme of “Other Otherness.” In the final session, we will collaboratively map out a plural positioning.

## Grading Method

Assignments, participation, self-assessment

The course will be evaluated with a numeric grade that will average results from the 4 sessions.


| Percentage  | Description                          |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------ |
| 20%         | Participation                        |
| 40%         | Prototype development |
| 40%         | Personal reflections                 |


!!! ects "European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS)"

    {{ ects }} ECTS


## Faculty

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