Design Plugin Workshop
Unleash your creative potential in this hands-on Turku Åbo Summer School design workshop where you’ll master essential design thinking and service design methods. Through collaborative projects and expert guidance, you’ll develop practical skills to tackle real-world challenges while building a designer’s mindset. Join us to discover how design thinking can transform your approach to problem-solving and innovation.
- Teaching period: 1 – 31 August 2025
- Contact teaching in Turku 4 – 15 August 2025
- Credits: 5 ECTS
- Course level: +2 years Bachelor's Degree studies
- Organizer: Turku University of Applied Sciences
- Field of study: Design, Product Development, Visual Communications
- Course fee: 1100 €
APPLY BY 17 APRIL 2025
Curiosity, creativity, and empathy are key elements of design, and they are very much needed in surviving and thriving in an ever-changing world.
Design Plugin Workshop offers an effective and fun way for designer-attitude, design methods, design thinking and service design. The course includes introduction lectures, workshops with hands-on team working on real challenges, and independent reflection. The lecturers and coaches are experienced design teachers.
Learning outcomes
The student will be able to…
- understand the possibilities of design thinking & service design
- approach various phenomena and challenges with a designer’s attitude
- use basic design methods for different development needs, like
- gather user-information and find relevant needs from that by using design methods
- ideate, create, prototype and present alternative design/service design concepts based on found needs
Methods
Lectures, workshops, group & project work, presentations, and independent studying (reflection).
Date
1 August – 30 August. Contact teaching in Turku 4-15 August 2025. The finish of the course is completed independently (reflection).
Turku University of Applied Sciences
Mervi Vuolas: expertise in visual communication, user-centered design and service design
Hannu Parkkamäki: expertise in user-centered design, product development and prototyping
Place: Turku UAS Campus.
Undergraduate students who have completed at least of two years of Bachelor’s studies in any field. Graduate and postgraduate students are also welcome.
Pre-task 20 h, lectures, mentoring and workshops 30 h, project work in groups 50 h, reflective report/learning diary 35 h = 135 h
Will be informed before the course start.
Grading 1-5
Min. 10 students, max. 20 students.
Teacher Information
Mervi Vuolas
Mervi Vuolas works as a Senior Lecturer at Turku University of Applied Sciences. Her areas of expertise include service design, design thinking, user-centered design, visual communication, and ideation. Mervi holds a Master of Arts degree from the University of Art and Design Helsinki (now Aalto University), with majors in both textile art and art education.
Mervi actively participates in various group exhibitions every year. She often uses recycled materials and natural dyes in her works. Her most recent solo exhibition, MEMENTO MORI, was held in 2021. Mervi also serves on the board of the Taiteilijat O artists’ association. Based on her initiative, the association will organize a group exhibition titled KUN AIKA ON ("When the Time Comes") at the Stoa Gallery in East Helsinki in November–December 2025, showcasing material-based art.
Mervi has held over 20 solo or group exhibitions and has participated in more than 30 juried group exhibitions both in Finland and abroad.
Hannu Parkkamäki
Hannu Parkkamäki works as a Senior Lecturer at Turku University of Applied Sciences. His responsibilities include design projects, product development, design thinking, user-centered design, and leading the ProtoLab. Hannu is a master cabinetmaker and ornamental woodcarver with international work experience in Germany and Switzerland. He holds degrees from the Institute of Design at Lahti University of Applied Sciences and Aalto University.
Hannu brings a design perspective to product development projects through his expertise. His special area of competence is the design and development of wood-based products. Hannu has collaborated with the City of Turku’s green space unit on a project in which old park trees from Turku were transformed into various products. The project resulted in the publication A New Life for Park Trees: A Guide to the Utilisation of Large-Diameter Urban Trees. Hannu is passionate about the opportunities that prototyping offers and the hands-on creation of prototypes.