from "A Field for Growing Doctorates in Design?," Klaus
Krippendorff's paper from the 1998 conference on doctoral education
in design at Ohio
State University
>Most participants at this conference were surprised to learn that the
>University of Minnesota offers a Ph.D. in Design as well, and how
>many Ph.D. degrees were granted in other countries, from Finland to
>Australia, even so close to the U.S. as in Montreal. The lack of
>knowledge of Ph.D. education in the U.S. is indicative of one of the
>problems design is facing. Designers do not know much of what other
>designers are doing -- except for the disciples of a few design
>beacons whose work is published in slick magazines. A well-organized
>community of designers is nearly absent. A community requires that
>members talk to each other, know of each other's work, respect and
>support each other.
I cannot speak to design areas other than graphic design but whether
well-organized or not, there -is- a community of designers (or, more
accurately, several overlapping communities of designers.) We know
each others' writing and design work (although not to the degree that
we might want) and there is significant mutual respect and support.
Although nearly all would agree that it is insufficient, there is a
significant and growing body of literature.
If people are surprised to lean about PhD programs, does that really
speak to a problem with design or a problem with PhD programs?
Gunnar
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Gunnar Swanson Design Office
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