Dear Lily
You are absolutely right to say that PhDs are not a threat to design
education. They are a welcome addition. Making them a precondition to
employment in design education however is, as Mark Evans observes,
seriously at odds with the capacity to deliver the highest standards of
all round design education. Such preconditions, at the expense of highly
skilled practitioners, are also very much at odds with student needs and
expectations. I would suggest that Mark's priorities in setting up a new
design school are spot on though I would expect that some of the
practitioners might choose (voluntarily!) to undertake PHDs and some of
the researchers might choose to explore their subjects through advanced
practice.
Best regards
Martin
Professor Martin Salisbury
Course Leader, MA Children's Book Illustration
0845 196 2351
http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/microsites/ccbs.html
On 07/10/2011 15:22, "Diaz-Kommonen Lily" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Dear all:
>
>In the past past couple of days I have sent more posts to the list than
>in the previous 5 years. This is probably because I am currently on leave
>and have a bit (though not much) more time on my hands that usual. My
>posts are very simple and I will not seek references for what I consider
>to be a friendly discussion.
>
>Mark talks about the setting up of a new design school and at the moment
>I find myself working my way through Sybil Moholy-Nagy's Experiment in
>Totality, the biographical account of her husband's Lazlo Moholy-Nagy's
>life, that includes glimpses of the founding of the School of Design in
>Illinois.
>
>According to the narrative, Moholy-Nagy, whose life trajectory was about
>crossing boundaries (before he became an artist/designer he trained as a
>lawyer), was often derided by many of his colleagues as "a dabbler".
>
>The book is a sobering account of the life (24/7 non-stop work) of one of
>the great artist/designers of the 20th century and someone whose efforts
>IMHO have made possible our own discussions on this list. Really a stark
>contrast to the notion of "celebrity" that seems to abound in our times.
>
>It seems to me that one of the great things about working in design is
>precisely the opportunity afforded to be able (actually required) to be
>able to take leaps across domains of knowledge and practice.
>
>In closing: consider a band of pre-historic hominids roaming across the
>savannas. How much survival would be afforded if they relied on
>specialization? The male of the species who went on the hunt might have
>needed to be skilled in the hunt (physical conditioning and skills),
>making of the instruments (craft-making), terrain recognition
>(geography), some sort of basic knowledge about the heavens (astronomy)
>to name a few. The female might have needed to have knowledge about care
>of the family (nutrition, childbirth-medicine, management) food
>production (agriculture) garment-making (craft-making) story telling and
>memory keeping (history) among others.
>
>PhDs are not a threat to design education anymore than having great
>craftsmanship in a particular area is. Being a good 3D modeler in digital
>media is a highly sough after craft skill, for example. It is one more
>way in which a designer can communicate his/her ideas/concepts/results.
>
>Lily
>
>
>On 7.10.2011, at 9.09, Mark Evans wrote:
>
>> Don¹s thread on Design Education: Brilliance without Substance¹
>>claimed that there were weaknesses in (industrial) design education and
>>that there was a need for change. My response indicated my disagreement
>>with almost all of his concerns and solution. However, as the discussion
>>moved on to the increasing requirement for design academics/educators to
>>have PhDs, I was reminded of a presentation I was invited to give at the
>>Education Symposium of the Industrial Designers Society of America
>>(IDSA) in September of this year. In discussing the status of industrial
>>design education in the UK/Europe, I identified a key strength as being
>>the significance and centrality of the PhD in its capacity to contribute
>>new knowledge to the discipline. I also identified a key weakness as
>>being an increasing requirement for new lecturers to have PhDs as
>>opposed to evidence of substantial capability as a practitioner.
>>
>> In returning to Don¹s thread about his view on the need for design
>>education to change, it may be necessary to reflect on the validity of
>>the PhD for those academics/educators at the sharp end of industrial
>>design education i.e. those who have to teach the core skills and
>>knowledge of practice such as visualising; CAD; form-giving; interface
>>design; mock-up/prototyping; manufacturing. This may, of course, also
>>apply to other design disciplines. I have reasonable experience of
>>industrial design education in the USA where new hires¹ must excel in
>>professional practice and where many senior members of faculty continue
>>to run their own consulting firms. I have a high degree of confidence
>>that this approach serves undergraduate and masters students extremely
>>well.
>>
>> If I was to set up a new design school, my priority would be to recruit
>>a team of highly capable practitioners to teach core skills. I would
>>want them to have undergraduate/masters degrees and stunning portfolios
>>that include work from a wide variety of commercial projects. It may
>>also be necessary to recruit specialists to subjects such as ergonomics
>>and design history. With relatively large undergraduate/masters
>>programme in place, I would then want to have a team of academic
>>researchers (probably with PhDs) who would engage in cutting-edge design
>>research.
>>
>> The threat that I alluded to in my presentation to the IDSA and subject
>>line of this thread is that an increasing requirement for new staff to
>>have a PhD may be impeding the capacity of institutions to deliver
>>undergraduate/masters design education of the highest standard.
>>
>> Mark
>>
>> Dr Mark Evans
>> Loughborough Design School
>> Loughborough University
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>Dr. Lily Diaz
>Professor of Systems of Representation
>and Digital Cultural Heritage
>Head of Research
>Department of Media
>Aalto University, School of Art & Design
>Finland
>+ 358 9 47030 338
>+ 358 9 470 555 (FAX)
><[log in to unmask]>
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