What use is Design Education?

Abstract

AbstractWhat use is design education? There appears to be a constant and neverending barrage of statistics that seemingly disprove the value of design education, dispute the relevance of studying design and disregard the impact that design educators and design graduates can have in the design profession and on society in general. The simple truth is that many working design professionals, most often the alumnae of design education themselves, are critical of a perceived over-supply of design graduates into the creative industries. They bemoan the fact that students appear to spend less-and-less time with tutors and are also critical that, in their view, most design students lack motivation and in some cases even real talent. The design profession has one chief concern, or so it would certainly seem, and that is to find graduates equipped and prepared to row the boats of industry, rather than rock the boats of change.Despite the general tide of cynicism directed towards design education, amongst today’s de...