Abstract

As a creative act, design is transcendental, imaginative, experimental, and innovative. However, in mainstream professional practise design can be subjugated and sidelined by the administrative, regulatory and financial processes that drive the final outcome. In this sometimes risk-averse context the idea that designers are always creative is a misconception. More than ever professional designers seek opportunities that will stimulate, challenge and sustain their creativity as their formative design education once did. This paper will describe a series of creative masterclasses for practising designers initiated by the University of South Australia which respond to an identified lack of creative stimulus in commercial practise following university education. In the full day masterclasses, renowned ‘masters’ (Australian artists and designers from a variety of disciplines) lead design practitioners through provocative design projects. Masters invited into the program challenge the protocols and processes that characterise mainstream design practice and replace it with equal amounts of experimentation and risk. The paper will analyse 3 masterclasses providing insight into the masters’ complex challenge to educate professionals, the imaginative needs of practitioners and the value of sustaining ongoing creative education beyond a university qualification.