the future is interdisciplinary

Most design schools begins their curriculum with design skills that apply broadly to many types of design students. Coming in a variety of names, they have been organized into a collective group under this name.

OVERALL RANKING

IDSA Education SymposiumAugust 15, 2012 Boston

MICHAEL ROLLERAdjunct Professor, University of CincinnatiAssociate Creative Director, [email protected]@rollermt

Most ImportantLeast Important

How do new skills and traditional skills stack up together?

THE FUTURE IS INTERDISCIPLINARY

Interdisciplinary skills are the most important assets for future designers.

The future will rely on tradition: Foundational skills remain highly valued.

The future is (apparently) not in product specialization.

Interaction, Business of Design, and Design Research are said to be growing the most.

Sustainability and Design Management are buzzing. No love for Human Factors.

An employee entrenched in a product category quickly gets trapped in the paradigms and conventions. Some of the best ideas are solutions from other industries that are modified to solve a different problem.

What skills does the future of design require? We asked professional designers to weigh in on educating the next wave of young designers.

Corporate 53%Consultant 48%

Teaching general business principles is o�en overlooked in many traditional Design Education programs.

This stuff is about rigor, building in the work ethic that is going to make a kid a good intern. They might have amazing styling or cad skills, but because they learned to measure twice and cut once and pay a�ention to the details in foundations they'll end up being a be�er hire.

Everything is interaction design...The faster we stop treating interaction design as a separate task or even discipline, the stronger we are as a profession.

A great deal of work can be wasted if you have not identified the right problem to solve. Furthermore, once you have a solution, you need to make sure it is something consumers will accept (and buy).

I think ge�ing things in your hand is very important. However, students do not need to make things by hand carving thing out of foam...with the availability of CNC machines and quick rapid prototyping.

I don't need someone to know muscle names and nerve sensitivities, but understanding that people will use products is essential.

InterdisciplinarySkills

Drawing andRendering

FoundationalSkills

DesignResearch

Materials andProcesses

CAD SkillsBusiness ofDesign

InteractionDesign

HumanFactors

Branding andGraphics

Design TheorySustainableDesign

ModelmakingPrototyping

DesignManagement

Special thanks to:

ProductSpecialization

2518

All other new skills combined

Interdisciplinary Skills

1516

Drawing and Rendering

Interdisciplinary Skills

Times ranked highest or second-highest overall.

Number of mentions regarding skills is growing the most in importance.

Times selected as a skill of “high importance.”

460Interdisciplinary Skills

Designers regarded as decision-makers within their organizations evaluated the different groupings of skills.

Curriculums fromTop-ranked schoolsacross the U.S. were compared.

“Traditional” skills appeared at nearly every school.

“New” skills appeared less frequently in curriculums. Relevancy of these skills was supported by Core77.

4All other skills(average)

Total weighted scores, all skills

167Product

Specialization

480Average word count

732Sustainable Design

636Design Management

219Human Factors

12

10 8 7 43

Foundational Skills

Number of votes for most important skill overall.

Word counts from open-ended questions on each skill.

7Interdisciplinary Skills,

Drawing and Rendering

13Interaction Design8

Business of Design7

Design Research

The younger you are the more diverse you should be. You never know where you'll end up or who your next client will be or how your affinity for design will change over your career.

Having empathy for other disciplines is one of the most important things a student can learn. No ma�er where they start their career they are going to be just one cog in the larger team.

Everyone must know the basics. You can't bend or break the rules if you don't know what they are to begin with.

Understanding the context of design and how designers can add value IS the future of our profession.

As traditional design roles diminish in their occurrence, designers who specialize in research can continue to be valuable additions to a company.

The most significant change underway in the design world right now in my opinion. Well thought out interaction can result in competitive advantage beyond that of features, aesthetics, and cost/value.

#IDSA2012 What’s your best advice on developing interdisciplinary skills?

[Core skills] are the most important and least effected by trends in the industry.

It's the main skill that allows us to visualize what others put in bullet points on a power point.