Course: Graduation Project CMD credits: 30

During graduation you show that you have mastered all the competencies of CMD at the final level. That is why you go through the design cycle as usual and you iterate from a problem (or opportunity or issue) up to and including an evaluated prototype. You prepare a graduation portfolio that consists of various components such as a prototype, a design process report, the evidence from the various phases of the design cycle and a reflection report (for a complete overview of the portfolio components, see the graduation manual).

You can only start your graduation with a graduation assignment approved by the graduation coordinator. You will be guided during the search for that assignment and the preparation of the application form during the courses 'Orientation' in period 1 and 'Prepare' in period 2 of year 4. During your graduation you will be guided in a so-called Community of Learners, this is a group of 4 to 6 students with the same graduation supervisor. You will be assigned this for the graduation coordinator.

Having a roadmap (a kind of plan of approach) is essential for a smooth completion of your graduation. You will prepare this during the 'Prepare' course and it consists of a description of the four phases of the design cycle and the various components (think of a project framework, a context analysis, the setup for the preliminary research and the start of its implementation, as well as the setup of idea generation, conceptualisation and evaluation). You also make a planning (GANTT) in which, before graduation, you can see on a weekly basis which activity you are carrying out, what the products are to be delivered and which important agreements have been made with your graduation supervisor and the client. You also set learning goals that you work on during the graduation semester.

Assignment
You design an interactive and digital prototype/product and substantiate your process, so that you demonstrate that you possess the final competences of CMD at a high level. You look for the assignment yourself in the field of work. For the criteria that this assignment must meet, you should consult the graduation manual. Your graduation assignment must be approved by the graduation coordinator. You can decide for yourself what is the right entry point in the design cycle for your assignment: do you start with a problem or do you start with an existing product or prototype, or do you start with making a first prototype and then iterate from there? It is important that you iterate at least three times, the last time always being the iteration from your concept prototype (which you submit with your design process report) to your final prototype that you demonstrate during the final meeting. You may also iterate more often, for example small iterations in the individual steps of the design cycle.