Week 10 Session: Defend the Indefensible

Is bad design actually bad? Each student defends a hated design from the Hate Catalogue as if it were good

10 May 2027

Before the session#

Nothing to prepare beyond an open mind — you’ll be assigned someone else’s hated design in the room.

In the session#

Defend the Indefensible: you’re handed a design from the semester’s Hate Catalogue that you did not submit, and your job is to argue “this is actually good design” — even, especially, if you still hate using it. Airport security, two-factor authentication and speed bumps are the standing examples of frustrating-but-defensible design; the goal is finding your own.

Afterwards#

Bad experience is not the same claim as bad design, and good experience is not the same claim as good design. This is the distinction the Redemption Project needs you to hold onto for the rest of the semester.