I have a small anecdotal contribution to make about the education of engineers
and designers, and I would like to suggest that Lubomir is proposing a
too-polarised view of the eng-des spectrum that is too-focused on traditional
manufacturing. (I expect he is only doing it to provoke some debate)
Firstly education. Along with one or two others who are on this list I took
part in a planning conference for a new design school in a university which had
no prior experience of design as a separate discipline in a country which has
not made design a central priority in the past. (No I won't say where but I
know of several countries where my story could have taken place)
Several of the participants were local people with an engineering background. I
found it fascinating that their model for learning was - understand the theory
(Vincenti's operating principles?) then you can do the practice of designing.
My model is start practicing and through your experience develop your
understanding of the theory. Over two days we achieved an almost perfect state
of mutual incomprehension.
Secondly, Lubomir has suggested that we are talking about a contrast between
functional engineering and styling and I don't suppose I am the only one here
who is not happy about that. I'll leave engineers to say what they do but I
feel that the common theme for "designers" who do not consider themselves to be
also engineers is a focus on purpose and human experience rather than means of
delivery.
That might translate into styling for some people but I haven't met many of
those, especially in recent years. Currently my interest is in how industrial
designers deal with the "disappearing product" conundrum, where many of the
most interesting problems are about systems and how we experience them.
It was notable that, at the Common Ground conference last year, a number of
people challenged, vigorously, the idea that as a community we were concerned
with "material culture". I suggest that is a change of outlook from, say, 15
years ago.
Best wishes from Sheffield
Chris Rust
*******************************************
Professor Chris Rust
Art and Design Research Centre
Sheffield Hallam University UK
www.shu.ac.uk/design
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tel +44 114 225 2706
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