Why do you design?
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- miaspore
Hello, my name is Mia. I am currently a student at Hyper Island, currently researching on innovating the business models of design education.
There are some gaps in my research, and I'd really love to hear from alumnis, current students, and practising professionals - any sort of design discipline. If you could help answer my questions within the next 2 days, I'll be ever so grateful!
I am also going around to the other side of the table and asking what businesses/organizations think about design's role for them. So I'll post the answers back here as well! Thank you so much for your help.
1. What motivated you to go to design school or become a designer?
2. What did you expect out of your design education before you entered?
3. What does design mean to you today? Why do you think it's significant in the world?
4. If you can change any aspect of your education, what could your institution provide that would help you today?
- sureshot0
1. Never went to design school
2. see 1.
3. nothing. I need a beer.
4. see 1.- or
FUCK YOU CANDYORAZAL - hahahahazenmasterfoo
- hey, that sounds familiardbloc
- or
- honest0
1. I had very good drawing skills and didn't want to be an artist or a draughtsman.
2. To get employed, I needed a higher education design qualification
3. Design to me today means intelligent communication. Significant so as to help with efficiency and human engagement.
4. More collaboration with other creative disciplines.
- formed0
1. Wanted to be an architect from youth, 7+ years of education (undergrad, grad)...this led to all things "design"
2. I expected a career that I would be passionate about, have some flexibility for working from home, starting businesses, etc.
3. Design means anything creative, mostly visual. It is significant because it is everywhere, every moment. Design, both good and bad, can impact the world.
4. ANY education should have a solid BUSINESS foundation!! While I took that on myself, it should be a fundamental requirement, especially in any creative school where people are blinded by passion.Going back to #1 - sooo many "designers" get an idealistic vision of the world and what they can contribute and get paid (well) for. The better the school, the higher that ambition and their naivete (speaking from experience here).
Money makes the world go round, like it or not. Learn how money works, learn what is valuable in the business world and you'll find that design can contribute and you can have your cake and eat it too.
- GeorgesIV0
1. Never went to design school
2. ^
3. yesterday: we're gonna change the world, today: conform or die, tomorrow: wut, the cloud is down or did I forget to charge my hourly adobe creative card > significant to the world? meh?
4. #1 + lowering the cost for attending such institutions, free online course for those who still can't afford the "designer" life,
- lowimpakt0
1. I was curious about how things worked. I didn't want to be an engineer and I couldn't afford to study architecture so i studied product design.
2. I wanted to make things and party. .
3. Design needs to permeate all areas of society - i.e. business strategy, government policy etc. but we need to protect the essential craft of design. Design education needs to be disrupted now to make it relevant for the future.
4. More interdisciplinarity, more practice/action based learning, more social innovation/sustainability, more design entrepreneurship, more research, cheaper drugs
- detritus0
1. I didn't, I just always had an interest in the sphere (without really appreciating what 'the sphere' was) and one day ended up doing it. I don't like the tag 'designer', don't feel like I am one or wish to aspire to be one.
2. I only realised there was an education in the domain when I went to university and found myself hanging out wit hthe Industrial Design lot and thought "huh, I wish I'd known this shit existed" (I came from a very provincial backwater, with exposure to the end product, but not the process - this was pre-internet, my inputs were limited)
3. "If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing properly" is a fairly Calvinistic refrain I have typically lolling around my head. 'Design' to me is just about putting thought into a process and making the best of it. 'Design' is in everything - from the particular technique a heart surgeon might have to the knowledge put into making a good loaf of bread or sweeping a street effectively. It's what makes us human. 'Design' as a Capital D domain is no more important than any other job in the world, and I think it's important to keep that in mind.
4. I can't really answer this one - I learned on the job, which is how I feel it should be done. Tutelage through apprenticeship, or something.
- monospaced0
1. I had it in me and knew that if I wanted to do it right, I had to learn about design, its history and its principles in order to do it well.
2. See #1: I expected a thorough background and understanding of fundamental principles, combined with a working design faculty and real-world projects.
3. From the first tools and the Pantheon, to a book or a banner ad, design is inherent in all things we create. It has been instrumental in human progress, you could say.
4. The price.
- ok_not_ok0
1. Dolla dolla bills y'all
2. Dolla dolla bills y'all
3. Dolla dolla bills y'all
4. Inspiring Professors.
- trooperbill0
1. at an early age i realised that everything needed to be designed and thought it was cool, later i showed an aptitude and through encouragement made this my profession of choice.
2. To understand processes and techniques that i could use in the real world.
3. see 1.
4. Make it more vocational. I was in one of the first UK digital courses however i left knowing little of how a studio ran, how to interact with clients and basic office skills
- necromation0
1.chicks
2. see 1
3. see 1
4. Can you see a pattern emerging?- you should open a studio with ok_not_okmonospaced
- lol!ok_not_ok
- babaganush0
1. To truly learn broad principles, history and a holistic grounding that I perceived would stand be in good stead as a designer with purpose.
2. To dive straight into design, we didn't we had a broad starting base - which was the best foundation (although frustrating at the time).
3. ' design' is undervalued. True design is and always has been crucially important. I think we should value design education and fair play to self-taught designers but I think we should try to 'qualify' designers akin to architects. The accessibility of technology has meant we are truly seeing the devaluation of 'design' as we compete with clients' children doing logotypes and designers need to justify themselves amidst a barrage of crowdsourcing etc. Design education should be seen as something to be proud of, an achievement and a rite of passage.
4. Conversely I wouldn't make entering design easier in principle. Financially it SHOULD be accessible to all, but I think it should almost act as a kind of scholarship so that the truly committed can pursue their dreams and benefit. Only by perhaps doing this can we try to stem the disrespect from clients and in some respects creative industries at large with regards to the value of design, designers and codes of practice associated with the profession (as much of it really isn't currently a profession due to the blurring of what qualifies someone to be a designer). If you're gifted and committed and hungry for it, you should be a designer - if you want to sit and push pixels about because it seems like a laugh or a bit of extra cash, you shouldn't, any more than you shouldn't be a dentist because messing with teeth looks like a gas.None of this will happen...
- ArchitectofFate0
Less "researching on innovating the business models of design education" More "How do we sell", some of the presentations on hi site are horrendous. And having met a bunch of former students maybe a divulge in rhetorical theory could be of interest.
- utopian0
It helps me get hot chicks, and makes me feel like a rockstar!
- Glitterati_Duane0
Good question
- Chimp0
1. At the time I loved making covers for mix tapes and generally being creative. As I can't play any instrument it was a way of getting involved with bands and the music industry.
2.To prepare me for the design industry and enable me to live as a student for 3 years and party.
3. Today I see design as a more wholly encompassing process than before. "Design is not just what it looks and feels like. Design is how it works"
4. More real life briefs and deadlines, plus how to deal with client feedback. Looking at student work now, I feel too much of it lacks even the basic requirements of good design.
I hope that helps a bit with your research, good luck!
- jfletcher0
So you start a thread and don't even check in after a day? Come on... HyperIsland should teach you some follow up. I think Sureshot and I are pretty close, maybe we'll stop by.
1. I started as an arts student and a friend told me he was going to a design school and I should check it out. So I applied and boom... but growing up I didn't know what a designer was or had no desire to be one, I was just lucky to find a career that matched my random traits.
2. Nothing... to learn what design was...?
3. There are two questions here, this is unfair.
3a. The ability to solve problems (let's say human problems... but it could be anything). Utilizing empathy, listening, and other words you can read on Don Norman books.
3b. I'm not sure if design is significant in how it's viewed now, but the type of critical thinking represented a different type of education, which is a lot more interesting to be. Being inductive, deductive, abductive, and all other "ives" to help solve problems that arise around the world. The type of thinking and what it represents if a lot more interesting to me than "what design means right now"... in that case this week it means people bitching about iOS7.
4. hmmm, I could have used better teachers my 2nd and 3rd year. Besides that I think more rigor on the history of design, the type of critical thinking that should happen during a design problem. Then really having teachers critique and pull apart the thinking instead of just critiquing one final piece of work. That doesn't help students address issues that happen during the process...
I didn't proof read this, sorry for poor grammar et...
- d_rek0
1 - I had natural talent and mild-passion for sketching and drawing. I saw it as a means to retain, utilize and monetize my talent.
2 - A deeper understand of art & design history, formal techniques and theory, and more generally grow as an artist/designer.
3 - Today it's a means to an end - what end i'm not sure of. I know that I can make decent money and live comfortably from my profession. Is design significant in the world? Well, I know most might disagree but I would say no. I can't elaborate without writing a dissertation, but the general idea is that life on earth would go on if design did not exist as a profession.
4 - Better understanding of the business of creativity. Outside of the portfolio, I think colleges should help students understand the value of design in business and how to best monetize their opportunities.
Also adjusting their tuition relative to the income levels of graduates. I think a lot of private art + design colleges saddle their graduates with unprecedented amounts of debt that cripple graduates for many years to come. I mean if you're graduating with $50-60K in debt and your starting salary is $35-50K USD that's almost a 1/4 of your paycheck. While some may argue the onus is on the student to plan for their future I would argue that colleges are almost as bad as banking institutions when it comes to predatory recruiting and lending.
- oh yeah, the ROI of design on biz... missed that one, good call! Also, just biz in general.jfletcher
- exador10
1. What motivated you to go to design school or become a designer?
- i had a natural talent at art, and enjoyed it the most out of all my school courses, and my parents encouraged me to go forward with that since i enjoyed it so much...and when i compared 'fine arts' to commercial design and advertising, it seemed i could make a better living from going into design and advertising..2. What did you expect out of your design education before you entered?
- i expected to learn the basic fundamentals of design, theory, and practical experience....
3. What does design mean to you today? Why do you think it's significant in the world?
- as has been mentioned before, every consumer item, and basically every facet of our lives is designed by somebody somewhere... that's significant in and of itself, but i think it speaks to a wider acknowledgement of there being a 'goodness' about it....being a designer is about having the special job of bringing order out of chaos, and adding a little beauty into the world...
4. If you can change any aspect of your education, what could your institution provide that would help you today?
- the big one would have been a better co-op program, (helping senior year students get placed into actual design shops and studios for internships etc, also, better graduate programs and most importantly some kind of career counseling and job placement.. took me a full year of beating around the streets til i got my first design job...
