Discussing Art and Design Education: Themes from Interviews with UK Design Stakeholders

Abstract

This article presents discussion of art and design education in interviews conducted with 31 UK design stakeholders. To provide a coherent path through the data, quotes from interviewees are presented under the following themes: Choosing art and design; A natural talent for designing?; Developing the designer; Personal development. The author suggests that the views presented here relate to larger debates currently taking place in the field of art and design education. A particular thread running through the discussion is the intensely personal relationship that those following an art and design path have with their subject. This level of personal investment makes art and design more than just another educational or career option. Art and design education must therefore continue to develop pedagogical models which respond to the need for individual learning based on a development of personal creativity. Abstract JADE 24.1

Design process of live-action video instructions

“…"Design is reflective of its social, historical, and regional culture of production. This is manifest in specific cultural influences on the designer" (Micklethwaite, 2002). Similarly, Horst Rittel emphasized that "Design is directed towards a particular situation which is historically unique" (Protzen & Harris, 2010).…”

“…This dilemma generates fuzziness in defining Design. Scholars expressed that "design is the marriage of art and science" (Micklethwaite, 2002). While others emphasized that "design should not try to find a spot between engineering and art, but should be a separate discipline other than engineering and art" (Katz, 2015).…”

A game-based design studio: An exploration of an interior design studio environment for implementing game-based learning

“…Students' collaboration with each other in a studio environment allows them to develop teamwork strategies that would benefit them in their future careers. Third, creativity and self-expression provides students with tools to develop and create design proposals that are innovative and individualistic (Micklethwaite, 2005;Wang, 2010). Finally, res Research skills play an important role in informing the design process (Ledewitz, 1985;Yurtkuran & Taneli, 2013).…”

“…According to Smith (2013Smith ( , 2015, students in an undergraduate design program seemed to view their grades as the only reliable yet incomprehensive form of feedback. This results in an inaccurate personal view and estimation of students' abilities and skills (Micklethwaite, 2005).…”