Hi Don
I feel the need to defend design education……
Your comment that “design curricula seem stuck in the mid 20th century, except for the addition of computer tools” is somewhat of an understatement. The introduction of computer tools has facilitated a fundamental paradigm shift within education and practice; with what students can do and how they do it having little resemblance to my education at bachelors and masters level in the (pre-digital, big hair) 80’s.
Since the origins of the profession, industrial design has always had a focus on form, users and manufacturing technologies and negotiation of this demanding trinity continues to represent the distinctive capability of the profession. Industrial design is, of course, “more than appearance”, but the centrality of form-giving is the professional remit that’s required to support manufacturing industry. Do clients want more from industrial designers? I’ve not heard that they do.
In practice and on some courses, designers inevitably work in teams where the specialisms to which you refer are, where resources permit, generally represented. Where resources don’t permit, there may have to be compromise but that’s no different for architects, lawyers or plumbers. At Loughborough, we have a large team of ergonomists, themselves with their own specialisms, who support our industrial design programmes and practitioners via consultancy. Through my travels, I understand that many other courses work in similar ways. And whilst you may have “searched in vain for any evidence that the students get any exposure to science, math or technology”, the BSc in Product Design and Technology at Loughborough Design School; Product Design BSc at Brunel University; Industrial Design Engineeing at TU Delft; Innovation Design Engineering at the RCA are all examples of long-established ‘techno’ industrial design programmes. I understand that these are now starting to evolve in the USA with recent developments between industrial design and engineering at Georgia Tech.
When it comes to sketching and drawing, I wasn’t aware that the “fully rendered, perfect perspective, wonderfully nuanced drawing we force our students to do” was still taught. In fact, as an external examiner at universities in the UK and visitor to numerous international institutions, I don’t recall seeing one for many, many years. Students now use 3D CAD geometry to create these and, when seen in the context of using the geometry for mouldflow analysis, rapid prototyping and the specification of form, these drawings might be regarded as being produced ‘for free’.
Industrial designers will produce relatively loose ‘Inspiration Sketches’ or ‘Renderings’ (see previous discussion of CoLab design tool under ‘industrial designers versus engineering designers’) that are efficiently generated using an interactive tablet and drawing software but these function as upgraded sketches that capture the emotional essence of a design proposal in ways that CAD can’t. Sketching, or the way designers externalise, manipulate and communicate their thoughts, is still core business. You mention that “very rough sketches will suffice”, but having taught design sketching for more years than I care to remember, when dealing with the fast and furious externalisation of complex 3D form, this skill takes some considerable time to develop. Designers ‘Idea’ and ‘Thumbnail’ (yes, see CoLab!) may look quick and simple to produce but require considerable tuition and practice to develop even a moderate degree of competency.
If there was ever a reason to have faith in the capabilities of our design schools, the 2011 IDEA awards winners (http://www.idsa.org/category/tags/idea-2011-student) demonstrate that design education constantly evolves and that emerging students have the capacity to gather meaningful insights and translate these into desirable, needed and useable products. In fact, only this morning I was telling my students that I may have to get my leg cut off so that I can use Seth Astle’s cycling prosthetic (http://www.idsa.org/content/panel/cadence-prosthetic-and-pedal-cyclists). If ever there was an example of industrial designers facilitating societal change by using their skills and knowledge to overcoming the stigma of disability, this is it.
Best regards.
Mark
Dr Mark Evans
Design Practice Research Group Leader
Loughborough Design School
Loughborough University
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