Design director approach to product design engineering education

Like the definition of product design, the hosting of product design degree programmes tends to fall into two categories: art and engineering; Each having their own foci and educational approaches. Some faculties and departments, typically residing in the engineering camp, offer design degrees that provide students with a space to work in a semi-social environment, some even venturing to refer to those spaces as “studios”. Few offer a true “studio” environment, a dedicated space for each student to customise and work in. Regardless of the reason for not providing a studio for students, be it a limitation of size of cohorts, available space or necessary funds, there are greater implications on the student experience than purely the lack of physical space. This paper presents the Design Director Approach to product design engineering education as a set of tenents that design educators can adopt in their practice. The Design Director Approach can introduce more student engagement opportunities, while embodying a mix of supervisory and coaching approaches, as well as using the psychological perspectives from Transactional Analysis to provide an industry-like interaction with students, providing further benefit and value to their learning experience.