Dear Mark,
This certainly strikes a chord for me. 'Making' is central to what we do
here, at undergraduate, masters and PhD level. Dyson's and Ive's
observations remind us of the fundamental problem with trying define the
field of design as a whole in terms of 'specification', separated from the
making process. Apart from the generally hands-on world of making
illustration, it is extraordinary how important and relevant such skills
as bookbinding and letterpress printing are to the understanding of book
design. The resurgence has been underway for some time!
Martin
Professor Martin Salisbury
Director, The Centre for Children's Book studies
Course Leader, MA Children's Book Illustration
Cambridge School of Art
0845 196 2351
http://cambridgemashow.com/
http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/microsites/ccbs.html
The Twelve Dancing Princesses, illustrated by Sheila Robinson- now
available from our online store:
www.anglia.ac.uk/12dancingprincesses
<http://www.anglia.ac.uk/12dancingprincesses>
On 02/12/2014 21:11, "Mark Evans" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Providing thereıs a sound methodological case for it, I like to get my
>researchers designing and making things whenever possible and, because of
>our undergraduate facilities, weıre fortunate to have the resources to
>enable this. However, two interesting comments on the contribution and
>demise of design school workshops have been made by leading designers in
>the last few weeks.
>
>Bemoaning the experience of his son when he was not allowed to make a
>prototype at college, in the Sunday Times Magazine of 30 November, James
>Dyson reported that, ³It was an industrial design course, where you
>werenıt allowed to make what you designed! I never understood that: if
>you have an idea you need to make a version of it to see if it works.
>Thatıs why I built 5127 prototypes of my vacuum cleaner only then was I
>happy with it².
>
>There were parallels with this position when Jonathan Ive, speaking at
>the Design Museum in London on 12 November, was less than happy with the
>capabilities of design graduates, commenting that, "So many of the
>designers that we interview don't know how to make stuff, because
>workshops in design schools are expensive and computers are cheaper.
>That's just tragic, that you can spend four years of your life studying
>the design of three dimensional objects and not make one."
>
>Whilst I accept that not all design schools engage in the design of
>artefacts, many do, all the way from undergraduate to PhD. In fact,
>evidence in the UK indicates that graduate design capability combined
>with a hands-on skill set is not only valued by employers but is
>increasing in demand as manufacturing and associated R&D continues to go
>through somewhat of a renaissance. Maybe itıs time to start trading-in
>rooms full of computers for more benches, band-saws and 3D printers?
>
>Mark
>
>Dr Mark Evans
>Reader in Industrial Design
>Loughborough Design School
>
>
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