Design Education

I am one of those people who have so many hobbies that I never really excel at any of them. I am a mediocre baker. I am a mediocre seamstress. I am a mediocre runner. I only get around to reading a "few" books per year. I put so much on my plate that I get to spend about 10 minutes on each project. Although I am in agreement with Don Norman's suggestion that design education must continually evolve and attempt to fill in gaps created by new technology and a changing society, I fear that what he envisions for design education would resemble my over commitment to every hobby imaginable. It is absolutely critical that design projects consider "the interlocking complexities of human and social behavior, [...] technology, and business" as Norman advocates but it is not realistic to expect designers to conduct extensive research or spend the majority of their education in these areas. A more feasible solution, "to stress the importance of collaboration with other non-design disciplines" recommended by a commenter on the article seems more realistic and a better way to preserve the talent that makes designers special. Even a gifted heart surgeon operates as part of team of professionals with varied skills and areas of expertise: nurses, anesthesiologist, and even business professionals. None could perform the daily tasks associated with the other’s position, but together they can produce results of incredible magnitude. I’m not trying to compare designers to doctors, but teams of professionals that are considered experts can accomplish so much more than a single individual trying to act as a jack-of-all-trades.

I tend to agree more with Andy Polaine’s perspective in his response titled Design Research and Education: A Failure of Imagination? Polaine essentially advocates for our profession to be structured more like the sciences where research, theory, and practice are closely intertwined – with special attention being given to processes and their application. “We have sold what we do as magic at the cost of hiding our thinking process and when we hide our process we can no longer articulate it, teach it or give it the value it deserves.” As I thought back on many of the industry projects I’ve done, I realized the unfortunate truth of this quote. With the exception of some general brainstorming, I really could not articulate a process that I follow to produce work. How many times in school did I (and other students) blame a lack of inspiration for poor results on a project? While I’m sure scientists receive jolts of inspiration, I doubt many of them push a project to the side because they’re not feeling inspired to conduct the research or experiments that are a part of it. As Pollaine points out, and as I’ve learned from this course, understanding process is everything if we are to prove our profession’s worth to the world. AIGA is making headway in this area by encouraging designers to construct and submit case studies.

Steven Heller drills down to a more focused level in his article concerning graphic design education. Begrudgingly, I have to agree with Heller that after four years of a liberal arts education focused on graphic design, I was less than confident to enter the field. Obviously I'm a believer in education as I am back in school for my 3rd degree. The downside to adding another year to America's college education or by stripping out foundations or liberal arts is still that disconnect between theories and processes taught in design school, and corporate culture that demands styling (and now!) and cares little about how one arrives at the final product. Design educators and design practitioners of all varieties should be collaborating about how best to bridge this gap. And as Polaine points out, we need designers speaking in the media about this and requesting funding, and even starting programs in primary and secondary schools to combat these issues.