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pahal-dehradun · 4 years ago

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MUST READ FOR DESIGN ASPIRANTS

What is Design

Design is the practice of intentional creation to enhance the world. It is a field of doing and making, creating great products and services that fit human needs, that delight and inform. Design is exciting because it calls upon the arts and humanities, the social, physical, and biological sciences, engineering and business.

Design thinking comprises strategies for finding and solving problems by bringing an understanding of people and society to technology design, focusing upon finding the correct problem before rushing to a solution. We believe that design thinking skills will be a key success factor for a new generation of creative leaders in technology, business, and education.

Design's purview has widened from its historical focus on artifacts to its new, expanded role in developing services and experiences, and improving sustainability, health, and education. In earlier years, designers were trained in form, function, materials, and aesthetics. Today, culture and emotion are central, plus knowledge of societal issues, techniques for subtle persuasion, and the intricacies of complex, interdependent systems. Design education must change.

Design is a field of doers and makers. In the practical world, successful products and services require generalists who can cut horizontally across many of the deep, vertical specialties. Generalists cannot succeed without close collaboration with specialists, while the knowledge of a specialty is too limited to create an effective service or product for people without the aid of design generalists.

Is Design for Me ??

Weird is good :

Students are attracted to design in the first place because they see the world in a different way, slightly askew. They are weird. Most of them have heard this many times in their lives—and it was not intended as a compliment. But Weird is good; it’s an anomaly and it’s unique. If you look at any “successful” person, they are probably being paid to play out the goofiness or athleticism or nerdiness or curiosity they already possessed as a child. Unfortunately for most people, somewhere along the road their weirdness was taught out of them or, worse, shamed out of them. Crushed by the need to “fit in,” they left their quirks and special powers behind. But it is our flaws that make us interesting. We need to not only hang on to them, but hone them. I don’t try to make my students “Designers.” Weird is good, but only if we put it in your work.

Design is not math. This is what makes the work hard. There are no right answers and very few wrong answers. Design is more as an innate skill set that we are born with—a small ember waiting to be coaxed into a larger flame. If you know how to use your brains, to make your senses of association and imagery sharp and flexible and urge them to seek their own way and express their individuality and push yourself to think for self, form an opinion—and know that your opinions matter. Essentially, you have to “learn” to be yourself and put it in your work.

DESIGN EDUCATION – A PARADAIGM SHIFT

“If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.”

In today’s dynamic world, it is imperative to monitor and map trends that have far-reaching impact on the larger society and the resulting implications on preparing design students. Definitely the future requires a different skill set. Employers are more and more looking towards hiring quick learners who can easily swing from one role to another and in the process be more productive for an organization; a definite shift from specialized subject skills that are the primary outcome of a design education, towards life skills.

With the ever changing job market and the industry, flexible ‘new age’ courses are gaining favour among learners as compared to traditional courses and skills. Learners of today are increasingly opting for non-mainstream new age alternate career options.

The role of design and of designers is increasingly shifting towards innova- tion, creative problem-solving, co-creation and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Designers are increasingly invited to the table to tackle complex business, social, and environmental problems that require much more than a visual solution. Design in these contexts is more complex than styling or making; it is an iterative process of redefinition that often produces products, services and experiences that continue to evolve over time.

Design is no longer an elite and exclusive language of luxury products, brands, and services. In this capacity, a designer is no longer viewed as privileged genius, but rather as a strategic partner in a range of contexts from startups to large corporations and governments.

Fortune 500 companies that are not design studios or digital products are creating new positions at the executive level that place emphasis on design. It is becoming common to see designers at the top with titles like Chief Design Officer, Chief Creative Officer or VP of Design at companies like Hyundai-Kia, PepsiCo, Capital One, Johnson & Johnson, and 3M

future needs are also an urgent need . This reiterates that there is a need to reconstruct the education model towards inter-disciplinary approach and revolutionize curriculum by merging and making them more progressive, responsive, real-time, and learner driven (what will industry offer and student readiness for it). A shift from:

· Disciplinary to inter-disciplinary/ multi-disciplinary;

· Specialized to holistic

· Fixed path learning to flexi path approach

· Product based to systems based

Employability trends: expectation from a young graduate

We are driven by economy of sales and economies of time, which are changing fast and so are the related needs and expectations. ‘Those whom the left-brain corporate masters tolerated as an interesting distraction but not really relevant to the main game, are now not only becoming the main game, they’re rewriting its rules. Designers who were once the barbarians at the gates now have the keys to the kingdom

In a qualitative study, over the last one-year, many design professionals and educators in India were spoken with through formal/ informal interactions in the form of focus group meetings and one on one discussion. These professionals were experts from various domains including product design, accessory design, fashion, visual and interactive communication, advertising, media and journalism, sports management, hotel management. Some important insights were brought forth.

When hiring a fresh graduate, design professionals look for relevant skills and capabilities over degrees. During interaction with industry experts, most of them stated that there is not much distinction in recruiting masters and bachelor level graduates. The preferred candidate should be well aware and be able to incorporate global as well as local factors while demonstrating responsibility towards ethical practices in design delivery.

With continuously changing scenario and the organization structure also altering from clear verticals to network based structure, there is a need for GENERALISTS rather than Specialists, who adapt from one role to another. There is a need for people who will solve BUSINESS PROBLEMS and not just design problems. Graduates should showcase the ability to develop new innovative ideas or improvement to products and processes. They should be able to develop and apply strategic thinking, critical analysis leading to innovative user centred responses.

Looking at the future trends, there is an increased demand for those who can effectively collaborate/connect and work in trans-disciplinary teams, while understanding the importance of individual role and responsiveness in an engaging and collaborative learning environment. There should be increased emphasis on research to generate wise designers who act more as consultants than as pure designers (as they are traditionally described)

Industry prefers to hire graduates with enthusiastic ‘ATTITUDE’ and appropriate ‘SKILLS.’ Experts further elaborate attitude as:

· Risk taker, challenge the norms, entrepreneurial mindset, adaptability, embracing (open to change and ideas), bring passion to work, patience, multi-tasker, and partnership with technology.

· Graduate should be passionate about the area of specialization, should show ownership of the creative idea and be excited by it. He/she should have the thinking acumen, should be good with people, should be creative, insightful and a planner. Passionate people with fresh ideas. People who love their work – be proud – be able to say ‘wow’

· Person not desirous of being in their box

· Awareness of the ecosystem - Curious about what’s happening in ‘design’. Understand what’s happening in the world

· Exposure, Willingness & Adaptability: Ability to adapt and quickly pick up nuances of change

· Wanting to integrate mediums

#design #design career #designaspirants #opportunities #pahaldehradun

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