Collaboration and industrial involvement in design education

Richard Adams, Julian Lindley, Les Wyn

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

Product Design in the modern world is a complex multifaceted discipline comprising of many skills and applications. It also operates in cross-disciplinary contexts both in direct teams but also contributing to strategic business of manufacturers, government/councils and not for profit organisations. It is no longer a purely creative problem solving activity where a good idea or innovation is enough to push forward a new product. For the majority of the design profession the days of design on the back of an envelope are gone. Today design is a structured activity with recognizable and repeatable methodologies and processes. Within this the profession is acknowledging and aligning with the principles of business management. A consequence is that designers are capable of undertaking ever increasingly complex challenges. Education needs to train designers to recognise and operate in these complex situations. As a response Universities now include project or design management within curriculum. ‘The new programme should equip the students with not only the ability to design, manufacture and test design solutions; but also with a firm knowledge of business strategy’ [1] However the authors have recognized a gap within the profession and education for a more structured and validated approach to decision making within the design process. This paper outlines a pilot study within a student project whereby professional decision making tools are introduced to final year students and used to validate selection of appropriate designs from initial concepts against a hierarchy of criteria.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages7
Publication statusPublished - 7 Sept 2017
EventInternational Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education - Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Oslo, Norway
Duration: 6 Sept 20178 Sept 2017
http://epde.info/epde2017/

Conference

ConferenceInternational Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education
Country/TerritoryNorway
CityOslo
Period6/09/178/09/17
Internet address

Keywords

  • define phase
  • design process
  • decision making

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Collaboration and industrial involvement in design education'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this