Core77: ID education today is requiring us to shove ten pounds into a five-pound bag. This sentiment has always been true for most ID educators. But it feels especially true today due to the proliferation of design positions available: IxD, UX, service design, experience design, etc. ID graduates all want to be playing a significant role in these areas. Consequently, the tools of trade, skills and type of output require augmentation and additions to the course exercises and projects. Add coding, electronics and other physical and digital interaction skills, and you have a lot to cover.
3 comments:
Industrial design is very compelling to me and it is where I would probably be if not in Drama. While theatre designers problem solve the best way to present a story in interaction with an audience, industrial designers also study this interaction but use it to create useful products. Industrial designers must understand the response of the audience because it intimately affects their effectiveness while in theatre this response is less tangible, even though we may try to encourage post-show surveys and the like.
It seems that the ID education is very similar to that of theatrical design in that the professors must be aware of the forefront of the field to best prepare their students. It also seems that ID student similarly build a wide-range of skills that will allow them to flexibly respond to jobs and problems they might face in the future. While the division of theatrical designers into disciplines at CMU somewhat circumvents this flexibility, within each field there does still seem to be a range.
Industrial design is a very interesting field. I had no idea how many areas fell under its purview. I have always been fascinated with UX design in particular, and while I have no real talent in it, love reading about it and seeing how people are revolutionizing it (which they always are.) I knew that CMU had a good design school, but it is cool to actually see the work that is coming out of these programs. I especially liked the pictures of the radios the students had designed and built.
This gives a really cool inside view on the world of industrial design. It seems that most people don't really think about it, but just about everything that we use and interact with in our daily lives has gone though its own process of designing, making, and remaking, several times over -- industrial design is a huge part of all of the things that we all have. It sounds like there is a really nice environment at CMU's industrial design program, and I would love to be able to take some classes there if scheduling allows.
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