A FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING PRODUCT DESIGN PRACTICE AND EDUCATION

DS 88: Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE17), Building Community: Design Education for a Sustainable Future, Oslo, Norway, 7 & 8 September 2017

Year: 2017
Editor: Berg, Arild; Bohemia, Erik; Buck, Lyndon; Gulden, Tore; Kovacevic, Ahmed; Pavel, Nenad
Author: Trathen, Stephen; Varadarjan, Soumitri
Series: E&PDE
Institution: University of Canberra, Australia
Section: Assessment Methods in Design Education
Page(s): 454-459
ISBN: 978-1-904670-84-1

Abstract

This paper describes the Industrial Design ecology framework model - a propositional model for product/industrial design practice and education, and explores how this model can illuminate current and future scenarios in these fields. The model was informed by qualitative research with product/industrial design graduates, and is important in visualising the breadth of local and international design practice. It highlights the tensions and dynamism of the profession, and how this mutable landscape could drive continuing evolutions in design education. Changes in the priority attached to the elements comprising the Industrial Design ecology framework model can describe the past, illuminate the present and provide scenarios for possible futures; all dependent on their proportional relationships, connectedness and emphasis. Privileging different elements can reflect or create new educational policy frameworks that may send us back in time or propel us into emerging futures. The Industrial Design ecology framework model provides a conceptual basis to consider possible futures and potential directions for steering product/industrial design practice and education.

Keywords: Design Education, Future Practice

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