Design education

Design Didactics is a field of didactics for the subject " Design". It deals with the teaching and learning of "design". Since there is no such trade generally as a school subject, the design didactics focuses primarily on tertiary education (vocational training, adult education, higher education). Although creative professions have been taught since ancient times (eg architecture), the design didactics as the Design Science is a discipline in the making.

Term levels of the design

In teaching design the different concepts of design are considered. In the vocational teaching course is the concept of design as a professional discipline in the foreground. Increasingly, however, design is seen as a course of action and also taught across disciplines (as well as in the design science ). See Design Thinking. This understanding of design is the dominant Anglo-Saxon culture. Under such a design concept of the doctrine of the design concerns the conduct transdisciplinary many areas and, in turn professions.

Development of the design didactics

The development of the design was teaching in its relation to art education at universities (formerly academies or Werkkunstschulen ) analogous to the development of design / art. The difference is that the art education in school has a field in its broad-based activity, are mediated in the design contents with. The practice of design teaching fueled to a large extent still from the Art Education: Working in class and the teacher form of artistic group and individual meetings, as well as learning in the project, the object occupies the central role. Where the design didactics can be seen as a scientific discipline, it applies methods and results of other scientific disciplines or take account of their knowledge and experience. The development of the discipline of art and science here runs parallel to the design science method, for example, on many of the same protagonists.

Related sciences are generally the first thing the history of design, as well as the cultural history, in which case the architecture and art history are emphasized further the pedagogy, psychology, general didactics, the social sciences, neurobiology, epistemology and educational research. Of course, all design disciplines reference subjects, but for their self-understanding (yet) sciences.

Close parallels to the teaching of design exist to each adjacent compartments, such as in engineering design in the case of industrial design or media computer science in the case of media designs.

Relation to art education, design education and the Werkbund

Although art education extends mainly in schools on design and architecture, the goals of art production and design production are different. Since the teaching design should take this into consideration, have in schools ( especially high school and vocational schools ) founded design educational initiatives. Also meets here (at school ) the placement of design on the renewal of the teaching work by Anglo-Saxon influences of the resulting design pedagogy.

A special role for the design didactics, pedagogy and at the same time evidence of the different motives of teaching design and art education, the Werkbund (link to German Werkbund as a precursor) dar. The so-called Werkbund dispute highlights the tension between the different objectives of the typing ( series production ) and the individualization (single piece ). At that time (1914 ) there was a specialist design yet, the forerunner of the professional illustrator pattern related mainly to textile products and the first industrial designers were recruited from the architecture (for example, Peter Behrens ). Nevertheless, this argument is prototypical for the still not clarified relationship between art and design and the misunderstandings in mediating the subjects.

Nevertheless, the Werkbund gained great achievements in the design agency ( as we would say today ), because he aimed at a "refinement of commercial work in the interaction of art, industry and crafts, through education, propaganda and unanimous opinion on relevant issues ." Here, the Werkbund works not only in theory but locally, for example, in institutions such as the Werkbund workshop Nuremberg.

Responsibilities

Purpose of teaching design is to ensure the development and quality of teaching, as well as to provide insight to course and university development. Here, the design didactics has to take into account the non-uniformity of design education through various schools. If it is recognized in other subjects the profiling only since the late 90s as a positive, the design education has always stood out through their own profiles of the various schools here quite in the sense of the concept of school as a school of thought. This tradition comes in part from the strong characters of teachers in relation to a relatively new and little consolidated Vermittlungsgut. Second, the Vermittlungsgut design focuses itself on innovation and speculation in contrast to classical science, which with unified and normative discourses whether their mediation object ( "What is ?") Are familiar. Finally, the different origins of the art schools (Academy) and technology ( engineering school ) stay out of Crafts ( Art School ), long influential.

Contributing, the design didactics also within the course and development of higher education in the recruitment and training of design teachers. Here the professionalization of teachers is especially a pending question.

Didactic Principles

Generally, there are different models, designing to teach ( the core of the design disciplines ) and learn. As mentioned above, there runs a part of the design form, in the form of design work. These are usually created as projects, often practical or praxissimulierend. The placement of content is not well structured, still under investigation, but is aimed at the model of master classes ( artistic group and individual meetings). Theoretical content will be in the form of seminars, rare, taught as lecture. Most of the theoretical parts are in design as " auxiliary sciences " because the contents from adjacent disciplines such as engineering, art history, computer science, psychology, marketing, etc. are borrowed.