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1) How would design education look if you removed all aspects of history from all the subjects in which it has any role? If you removed history from design education you would not be able to see or understand where the current trend of Flat Design emerged from Skeuomorphic Design in the UI space came from. Just as the Bauhaus did the same with the removal of superfluous detail that was pushed during the Romantic/Art Nouveau Era in Europe in the early 20th century, we now see the same design approach in UI Design today. The notion of stripping down a product in order to increase efficiencies is a well worn tactic in the cycle of design history. 2) Would design education be better or worse for it in terms of producing innovative useful designs? Design education would be neither better or worse with or without the inclusion of history in its curriculum. Many art and design school programs all over the world now teach only contemporary digital skills and graduate very capable designers who have high market value. Many with these skills help create the innovative products and services that we now use everyday. The downside outcome of just learning only skills is that a career cannot sustain itself on skills alone, as technology is always obsoleting skills at a faster rate than ever before. Designers that do not learn business management, systems or sustainability ( while in school or on the job) cannot grow their careers to support their survival in the constantly evolving and inflationary global economy. 3) What would a subject of Design Studies look like? Design Studies programs already come in various shapes and sizes from the vocational/community college level to the baccalaureate/PhD level program. One thing to note here however, is the different evolutionary aspects of design education in the west (primarily Anglo-Saxon) when compared with especially east Asian (Confucian). The west is out front in science/technology development, but lacks the variable and history of deploying and controlling design in the high population densities of eastern cultures. This is a very large difference in how the two cultures currently approach design education. Watching how China is developing its internet vis a vis the west is important to understand how Design Studies programs could be developed now and in the future when considering innovation inside of high density cultures that have a variety of different political and media control mechanisms. Macromedia University in Germany is addressing and evolving this issue of media design programming in their curriculum of product and service design currently. As a design student, it is important to learn to see how design and its evolution plays out in cycles through its history as it is married to technology (both socially and technically). Some, but not all, students are capable of this type of cognitive loading. A balanced strategic and tactical understanding of design is the best, most sustainable design education one can pursue. Design students need to be able to see through the subjective noise of contemporary society that is aimed directly at them to see what is going on beneath the surface in order to recognize opportunities, innovate and push for breakthroughs. Learning history allows for this clairvoyant capability in order to not only leverage and build upon history, but to avoid copying it in such a way that gets you or your employer or firm in IP legal trouble. To design without understanding history is to follow in the path of unsustainable design outcomes that were driven by Hitler (3rd Reich), Mao (People's Republic of China), Pinochet (Chicago School), Pol Pot (Khmer Rouge), Kim Il Sung (Juche) , Bush Jr. (Neoliberalism) and other models that pushed for design breakthroughs in society without referencing the past in order to make decisions for a sustainable future. Form follows culture... Stephen B Allard Bourgogne Allard Design Inc. Myongji College of Design Seoul mobile 010-9980-8341 ----------------------------------------------------------------- PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]> Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design -----------------------------------------------------------------