Topic: Dealing with Dynamics in the Design Field: a Hong Kong Perspective
The design discipline borrows knowledge and expertise from other disciplines, such as computer science and psychology in generating a wide variety of design outputs, ranging from digital games to public spaces. In design education, students have to learn how to optimally use of existing knowledge and to use their creative minds in framing and addressing design problems. Over the years professional designers have been successful in pushing the boundaries for innovation, thereby achieving recognition for their approaches from leaders in the business community and by those who lead change in the social sector. Quite a few MBA programs adopted variations of design thinking into their curricula.
Looking ahead into the development of design as a discipline and into the development of education, some rethinking is needed. How can design, or design education for that matter, incorporate the ever faster developments in increasing numbers of disciplines (now also including life sciences and bio-mechanical engineering, etc.)? Are traditional design disciplines, such as photography, product design and graphic design still relevant in the future?
The School of Design (SD) of design creates larger design families through establishing closer connections between related traditional design disciplines (such as advertising design, visual communication design and digital media design). In addition, SD proposes to focus on a restricted number of foundational design subjects in the heart of design education, being: design history, culture and lifestyle, interaction design and entrepreneurship. Through implementing such changes in design education, students will be better equipped to deal with rapidly changing environments.
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