Core77

[rollermt]

Comparing Adaptive Path's original statement to my own experiences, I regularly see about 1 portfolio in 10 that's worth following up. When reviewing student or recent grad work (or coroflot portfolios) to find coops and new teammates, its very easy to weed 90% of them out.

Reminded of this experience, I have to agree most strongly that communication is the biggest skill a designer must master. Whether that is through properly presenting your "design thinking," or executing a fully detailed model - if you can't communicate what *you do in an excellent way, then you're not helping anyone.

[RAVE12]

Having been in school not that long ago I see it like this. 4-5 years of school is NOT that long to go from "Hey I think I would like to be a Industrial Designer" to " Holy SH!#, I'm a professional". You have roughly 8 semesters and at best you have 6 dedeicated classes to mock product design. the rest of the classes are fragmented parts of the whole (drawing, rendering, 3-D modeling, GD, etc.) typical you have one class a semster that does the full process summing up all the parts into one project. If you are a teacher with that limited amount of time to mold young minds into the innovative minds of the future which things are you going to spend your time on?

Yes the ability to communicate an idea effectively is how you can define a GOOD designer. I think the learning curve for effective idea communication has a finite limit. You can only get so good at the ability to communicate an idea, at which point all ideas will become equally valid on the bases of the presentation (sketches are tight, push pins are all the same color, rendering communiacte the idea, etc.)

But what begins to seperate the GOOD from the GREAT is what is the IDEA. If I am an educator that understands these principles and the limited amount of time that I really have, I might be tempted to let the student struggle and figure out how to communicate an idea on there own so that I can emphasis and teach how to define a good idea and how to properly align that idea with a user group or vise versa.

The solution to the problem of student project not having enough consideration for real world problems like mass production and price points is not better communication abilities; it is to teach them to dig deeper in there design process and method of thinking and evaluating concepts. If the project aren't considering these things that means they need more "design thinking" classes not less.

The design world is a pretty one of cool sketches and hot rendering and designed presentation; once you pull down the fascade you have to have some real meat in order to actually have relevance. TEACH MORE MEAT

[cg]

^^ exactly.

[Kung Fu Jesus]

i'm a meat lover.

[yo]

but what is meat without gravy and a side of mashed potatoes, maybe some chopped broccoli on the side, an appetizer before, some desert later...

Yes the ability to communicate an idea effectively is how you can define a GOOD designer. I think the learning curve for effective idea communication has a finite limit. You can only get so good at the ability to communicate an idea, at which point all ideas will become equally valid on the bases of the presentation...

Exactly, the point is that schools should do everything they can to get their students to that finite limit so when in discussions in the professional world, your audience is focused on your thinking, not on the fact its a bad visualization of that thinking... or that one tack is red... c'mon man, get on metric time.

I've seen presentations tank because a watch crown looked 2mm too big in a sketch, or because there were a few scratchy contour lines on rendering of a razor, or a toe looking 5mm too high. Did it matter that the watch featured a new digital/analog combination movement, the razor integrated new contours based on a bold new ergonomic study disproving conventional forms, or that the shoe challenged traditional constructions to build shoes in a new way.... No, because one tack was red.

I think the point of the article is that schools tend to be focusing more on individual aspects of being a great designer, maybe in an attempt to differentiate themselves.... but thinking, doing, and making are all important.

try driving your car with one wheel over inflated and the other 3 flat... not very good design thinking there....

[rkuchinsky]

try driving your car with one wheel over inflated and the other 3 flat... not very good design thinking there....

well put. its all about a balance, indeed.

R

[ip_wirelessly]

Apparently CSVEN thought this was worth commenting on within his blog, but not on here.

Have a look:

http://blog.rebang.com/?p=1231

[junglebrodda]

4-5 years of school is NOT that long to go from "Hey I think I would like to be a Industrial Designer" to " Holy SH!#, I'm a professional". You have roughly 8 semesters and at best you have 6 dedeicated classes to mock product design. the rest of the classes are fragmented parts of the whole (drawing, rendering, 3-D modeling, GD, etc.) typical you have one class a semster that does the full process summing up all the parts into one project. If you are a teacher with that limited amount of time to mold young minds into the innovative minds of the future which things are you going to spend your time on?

that is why internships & co-ops are so necessary, and i would hope that teacher try to get the students prepared to be as competitive as possible in the professional arena...

as a recent graduate, none of the places i interviewed (nor any of my peers) were overly concerned with "design thinking", not to say that it was not in fact the professionals who came to critique our work, noted that their 1st priorities in filling entry level positions were skills based...

i am even not sure what "design thinking" is? i think people forget what it was like when they were a new designer, how much they did not know and how much they learned on that 1st job. it makes sense to me that whatever "design thinking" is it is informed by the design "doing" & "making"

I find these individuals far more valuable for their analytical skills than a classic (second-era industrial designer) who would sketch the wrong stuff all day.

isn't that apart of the design process? sometimes going down the wrong path helps one get to a better end result...

[rollermt]

I think we should clarify "design thinking" a little. Here's my take, and I invite others to give their own interpretation.

Most schools focus on the process of designing - the cycle of discovering problems, defining opportunities, and creating potential solutions that eventually result in a final product. But some of these schools lose sight of the individual skills (sketching, modeling, graphic design, video?!) required to be excellent at the steps within this process.

The result may be a person who uses a good process but does not share their information well because they lack some of the skills for it.

Its a balance of teaching both the process and the skills that makes the best education in my opinion. After that, its up to each person to discover their strengths and make the best out of their 4-5 years.

[ip_wirelessly]

I believe the term "Design Thinking" doesn't apply AT ALL to the Design Doers. It applies to the Design Decision Makers....who 9 times out of 10 are NOT Designers. They are marketing mgmt, etc.

It applies to MBA type students. It allows them to understand the process of Design and weigh the risks and understand the value of Design. It helps the Design Doers have a better line of communication with the Design Decision Makers.

[Mr-914]

ip: Thanks for posting csvens comments. Enlightening stuff.

I really see both sides. The core of my school was forged from what is being taught over at IIT, although I think I have decent traditional skills and pretty good researching skills. I think I've done pretty well so far, all things considered.

Looking at what some schools are teaching though, I understand where the negative comments are coming from. Personally, I blame it on the increasing number of ID programs. These programs, largely teaching minimal artistic skills, are crap schools and we IDers should maybe start calling them out for what they are.

With the schools which do teach something good, I think they can all work on being a bit more well rounded. My school could have been a bit more thorough on traditional skills and CAD. I see alot of students with beautiful artistic ability, who are unable to communicate why any of their designers are better than any other design. I can't see how these people would survive in a presentation. I've also found designers who are completely incapable of doing basic research. This should be taught in school, since every university should have a giant library filled with people whose sole mission in life is research. I've met some lazy designers who don't get the ball rolling because they are waiting for someone else to fill in all the holes on the design brief. Argh!

Back on topic though....D-schools etc. I think that teaching design thinking is a great part of design education. If it weren't for the D-school influence I have, I would be unable to discuss intelligently the pros and cons of my design, and I'd probably waste alot of time drawing rather than designing.

Either management needs to write far more precise design briefs, or designers need to get far better at figuring out what to design (and be able to explain the benefits to the client).

[ip_wirelessly]

I've met some lazy designers who don't get the ball rolling because they are waiting for someone else to fill in all the holes on the design brief. Argh!

Hey, Mr-914....can you elaborate on this a bit? Give some examples of what you mean?

[ViVaVoom]

I am on the front line of this issue in my classes -- I know exactly what the article is about. I am all for designers moving up the decision-making chain in companies and working with brand, strategy, and research from the start of the product development. Unfortunately a lot of this gets dumber down.

A few thoughts for schools:

Stop just using the words innovation ad infinitum. MERELY USING THE WORDS innovation, business, branding, user experience etc. is not TEACHING innovation, business, branding, etc. Please... get specific and stop the lip service.

Stop selling us out: aesthetics are a core competency for industrial designers. I see people belittling and distancing themselves from aesthetics in an effort to court business. It's "just styling" which will all be sent overseas. Yes, there is bad design that simply slaps a look on top of a functional structure without any consideration. That's not styling -- it's just bad design. We aren't just "problem solvers" in the sense that engineers or MBAs are problem solvers. We bring an understanding of FORM and how it is part of the problem at hand.

Stop acting liking drawing and modeling are trivial. How many people graduate and immediately get design management jobs before working as a jr. designer (I'm asking... I honestly don't know)? Are we just going to conduct research, meet with execs, prepare a 30 page design brief for the real designers? Shouldn't we call the degree Masters in Design Briefing and Development (MADBAD)?

Stop letting/encouraging students to research and design things that would never be developed by an industrial designer. I'm talking about extremes here -- things that should be left to operations researchers, engineers, psychologists, anthropologists, MBAs and Statisticians. YES designers should be generalists and adept in a number areas, but if the problem at hand is amenable to hard-core quantitative analysis... forget it, you’re out of your league. If there is no element of FORM in the problem, why would anyone pick a designer to address that problem?

And finally, the overuse of "design thinking" is vague and annoying. Much of the time what people are referring to is just THINKING.

[yo]

Stop selling us out: aesthetics are a core competency for industrial designers. I see people belittling and distancing themselves from aesthetics in an effort to court business. It's "just styling" which will all be sent overseas. Yes, there is bad design that simply slaps a look on top of a functional structure without any consideration. That's not styling -- it's just bad design. We aren't just "problem solvers" in the sense that engineers or MBAs are problem solvers. We bring an understanding of FORM and how it is part of the problem at hand.

That has been going on for a long time. Form is often dismissed instead of expanded on. The function of form cannot be understated. I never understood why schools don't make visual semantics a requirement.

Stop acting liking drawing and modeling are trivial. How many people graduate and immediately get design management jobs before working as a jr. designer (I'm asking... I honestly don't know)? Are we just going to conduct research, meet with execs, prepare a 30 page design brief for the real designers? Shouldn't we call the degree Masters in Design Briefing and Development (MADBAD)?

Funny. I'm with you. I got into this field to design, not write a research paper so an intern can design. Now that I am a director, keeping my hand in projects while researching, putting together brand direction documents, working with marketing on line planning and briefs, managing my team, the work flow, and the upper brass is a serious tightrope act.... I doubt that someone right out of school with no experience doing design could manage the process. Without spending 10 years doing it, how would you know how long things take, what it takes to get them done, how to foster creativity, and so on. So I would assume the answer to your question would be somewhere between -10 and .5

And finally, the overuse of "design thinking" is vague and annoying. Much of the time what people are referring to is just THINKING.

Ditto, well put.

[cisabella]

I have a BS in ID and an MBA. The MBA took me because of my background in ID. The biggest downfall for me was that they relied on me to teach and showboat the benefits of designer's thinking to all the non-designer students (engineers, scientists, and marketers mostly). Unfortunately, in the end everyone that didn't "do" design before won out and all I was left with was mixed messages.

I have interviewed for several marketing and design positions since I've graduated and nobody knows what to do with me. They all prefer I was one discipline or the other.

I think that schools use buzz-words for publicity. They really need to focus on convincing employers to incorporate these new-breed designers into their existing framework.

Additionally, I made the mistake of thinking a MBA could buy me a ticket into middle management, without the relevant experience. Now I can't accept entry-level positions due to debt from student loans, but I don't have enough experience to move into middle management.

Future-grads beware, a degree doesn't equal experience.