Design education has traditionally taught techniques and approaches to practice, which students can use to create impact in their work, and be effective in communicating ideas. Those techniques and approaches have been developed over centuries of practice, much of it intuitive in nature, involving experience, experimentation and a blend of skills that do not rely on detailed scientific knowledge about vision in order to produce stunning results.

Generally speaking technical drawing methods e.g. isometric and orthographic views are used for presentation of form and design idea. Systematically used these methods can yield fantastic results serving as a tool in the form and design generation / development process. In various product domains, especially where sheer aesthetic appeal or plurality of form is more important than functionality or utility; development of form family, variations on theme, etc. are the main design activity. This way of working will serve as an effective tool in cases where the design development process is confined mostly to the paperwork only but the product demands or has a scope for 3-Dimensional thinking e.g. industrial jewelry design.

This presentation will report on progress made in the development of a new Master’s degree structure in Graphic Design at the Durban University of Technology.

Full Title: The enhancement of the time, quality and strategic adequacy dimensions of product design processes: a doctoral study in its first stage

In Portugal the Product Design Processes display several inefficiencies that result on the bad performance of the products in general. Therefore I have initiated an investigation about design processes that hopefully will conduct to the development of a design methodology that will match design education practices with industrial ones.

Clothing manufacture is labour-intensive with repetitive andd skilled manipulation of fabric. Poorly-designed workstations contribute to cumulative trauma disorders (CTD) such as musculoskeletal disorders of the neck, shoulder and upper limb, collectively known as repetitive strain injuries (RSI).

Ergonomics, which can be used beneficially in the clothing industry, can be described as a system of interaction between components in the workplace, which include the worker, the work environment both physical and organisational, the task and the workspace. Effective ergonomic interventions could reduce health problems and accidents in the workplace.

This paper describes the results of an academic assignment given to a group of undergraduate architectural design students, in which each student was required to conduct research and compose case-study reports on selected works of architecture to support individual identification of each of these works as “good”, “bad”, or “ugly”. Each student was free to select whichever works of architecture they wished as subjects for their research, and to illustrate these works by whatever means they found appropriate. Each student selected several buildings as examples, and each student composed a multi-page illustrated and written report summarizing their research and concluding with specific attributions for each selected work.

Industries from developed countries tend to overlook the fact that people in new emerging economies are different in terms of context, ergonomics, social and cultural dimensions. Evidence from the literature shows technical design problems involved in adapting technology and that it may require the development of new ergonomics principles because of the diverse nature of people. Users around the world are no longer willing to settle for one-size-fits-all products with standardised technology.

This paper attempts to look at digital media and design education at a university level exploring the question of teaching software and medium specific technical skills over broader theoretical and conceptual ideas of contemporary technologies. In the past, the focus of digital media programs has been conceptual experimentation and innovation, it seems pedagogy is now being driven purely by technical concern. The university system demands the technical aspect of "digital media" to be taught, but the field demands the creative and conceptual.

The predominant focus of contemporary Art and Design education is visual, rather than written, communication. This paper explores recent shifts in Art and Design curricula, which have brought students’ engagement with the written word to a bare minimum. Drawing on my recent experience teaching at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (CSM), Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton (WSA) and the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), I will discuss how the written word may begin to take up a more productive place in Art and Design teaching.

In South Africa places in higher education programmes are valuable yet perilous for both the students enrolling for studies and for the institutions enrolling the students. For both, any studies which are unsuccessful or not completed are an increasingly costly misuse of time, money, resources and reputation.

On the part of the institutions, one of the actions intended to minimize this risk is rigorous student selection.

How does my design work?” and “How can it be produced?” are the two key technological questions that the industrial design engineer must be able to answer. Looking at the second question, we see that there is still a lot to be gained: 60% of all new products do not enter production as scheduled, with 25% of these products requiring major redesign. In part, this problem can be traced back to industrial design education.

• How do we clarify to the student what good performance is?
• How do we feedback in a way that encourages students to take action to address their individual learning styles?
• How do we facilitate the development of self assessment and reflection in relation to learning?

Assessment design and feedback are powerful tools in the support of worthwhile learning and in motivating students for future learning.

Academic staff in the School of Design at Northumbria University have some confidence that subject teaching promotes deep approaches to learning, through practice, in a studio culture which encourages frequent, informal feedback between tutor and student.

There is little in-depth research that can assist designers to use culture as a catalyst for designing innovative products within Botswana’s context. This is supported by evidence from the literature which indicate that from an African perspective, there is no solid theoretical framework which can assist designers to consciously integrate users culture in designing products. This challenges designers to gain a deeper understanding of users culture and find strategies on how they can use culture as a resource in product development. 

Self
Communication
Culture
Feedback

What we say is often less telling than how we say…What we see is often more potent than what we are told…What we learn is often not a matter of fact, but a matter of being, a way of thinking. (Joyce. 1997)

Verbal communication - the exchange and debate between students, teachers and clients - is a key component of design education. How something is communicated to us and how we communicate to others can influence our outlook and attitudes and helps to mould the way we respond to situations and environments

The study investigates appropriate approaches to new curriculum development and educational practice at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT).This is necessary in order to ensure success of the multi-cultural student body and facilitate the creation of ethical and culturally unique design solutions by the Bachelors of Technology (BTech) Fashion and Surface Design learners at CPUT.

By using the research dissertations and studio work of six learners as examples, possibilities of best practice and challenges with regard to this diverse context are highlighted, as the success of these learners in the 2006 BTech programme is analysed in a qualitative manner.

This paper presents a review of different authors’ approaches about a framework to guide design education and practice. Such framework was named as “factors”, “points”, “conditions”, “requirements”, words that have been used as a significant part of the discourse of modern design thinkers and educators. Basically those factors are identified with the notions of form, function, and information, man, utility, economy, aesthetic, ergonomics, industry, and others. Our particular approach to that issue is that clear design factors are important to the definition of industrial design disciplines.

This paper explores curation as a developing field within the creative industries and explores the theory, methodology of such new sites of practice outside the traditional gallery and museum context. It evaluates a new role for curating in terms of economic and cultural growth.

Seven years ago Kingston University and the Design Museum London launched a Masters programme in response to a clear need for professionals who could curate and communicate design within the new landscape of the changing museum and design sectors.

There is substantial educational research on the benefits of play, designed learning opportunities and experiences that incorporate play, and ways that collaboration through play creates opportunities for teachable moments in children's lives (Resnick 2004).  Our research is based on this foundation, using participatory design methods coupled with hands-on learning to create games and activities that teach kids and their families the fundamentals of good nutrition and dietary choices. 

We hear of “Swiss Graphic Design”, “American Graphic Design”, “Dutch Graphic Design”, “Tokyo Graphics”, … but no such thing as a Lebanese school of Design. Lebanese graphic design today is an amalgam of various influences, carried along in the educational baggage of academia and faculty teaching this discipline in the various universities across the country.

Full title: Learning From Synergies Between the Intersections of the Indigenous and
Modern in Settlement Planning Concepts and Traditions in Africa:

The study of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) in the built-environment disciplines has for a long time been limited and trapped in the idyllic discourses of 'exotic’ or 'primitive' architecture, and the ‘organic’ nature of the development and planning of such built forms and settlements, by emphasizing the essentially transient nature of these built forms.