Thirteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

As we move from the industrial age into the knowledge economy and deal with the ever-shifting digital sphere, we are challenged to educate designers—both in an academic setting as well as in the workplace. The designer of the twenty-first century is expected to collaborate with teams to deliver digital business transformation across experience, while simultaneously consulting clients on how to disrupt and innovate in a world of accelerated change. Additionally, designers must be able to speculate on the long-term, societal, cultural, and ethical implications of the products they create. Industry seeks the innovators who create business solutions that revolutionize consumers’ daily lives—the designer who hears a piano concerto and sees color, or the developer who hacks Alexa to give audio cues to a sight-impaired athlete. How do we educate for this profile? As experience design expands into voice, sound, and gesture, the design field requires broad, and global thinkers who can connect dots that aren’t even on the same page. Designers must work adaptively across disciplines, while also understanding both the implications and potential of new technologies like cryptocurrency, 3D fabrication and augmented reality, among others. Both educators and field practitioners are struggling to understand what skills and methods will be relevant in the foreseeable future. Do we remain in silos and specialize or do we become generalists? This study seeks to offer current perspectives from both academia and industry and consider collaborative solutions that are at the forefront of research, as well as inside curriculum and hiring practices.