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Part one
What is design?
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1
Introduction
āKnowledge and skill are vital but not as important as passion and creativity. Enjoying what you do and having an enthusiastic approach to design will ensure effective outcomes to any brief. Keeping myself up to date with the design world is integral ā I do this by following blogs, subscribing to magazines and looking up exhibitions. Surrounding yourself with great design allows you to explore and understand the industry in greater depth.ā
Catherine Perrott, graphic design student
āBlooming Propellerā Lighting Sculpture by Hsiao-Chi Tsai & Kimiya Yoshikawa, 2012 Image Ā© Tsai & Yoshikawa 2012. All rights reserved
To be creative, to analyse and to make sense of the world through drawing and making is within us all. When we were young we all used ādrawing and makingā to express ourselves. As your knowledge and awareness of design develops during your studies, you can begin to appreciate that there are opportunities to make a difference to peopleās lives. This book will introduce you to the breadth and scope of design as a profession and guide you along the road to a career that contains a wonderful combination of excitement and fulfilment.
One of the surprising aspects of working in design is the huge network of people. According to the most recent research in 2010 by the UK Design Council (āDesign Industry Research 2010ā) there are more than 65,000 self-employed designers working in the UK There are almost 11,000 design companies employing 82,500 designers and 6,500 design teams in manufacturing companies employing 83,600 designers. There is also the craft and designer-maker aspect of design that includes many small businesses and self-employed designer-makers. According to the UK Crafts Council, in 2011 (āCraft in an age of changeā 2012) there were over 23,000 contemporary craft-making businesses. That is a grand total of over 254,000 designers!
In ten yearsā time you will find that it is impossible to visit a trade fair or exhibition without bumping into people with whom youāve worked or studied. This network is crucial to the operation of the design industry. From the same Design Council Survey there is this comment on the nature of design work:
āFor freelance designers, networking has become increasingly important since 2005. And collaboration is popular ā more than half of designers say they work with other businesses.ā
So, what can you expect from this book?
The project stories and the career profiles from students, designers and other industry specialists throughout the book will show you the way that individuals think and create. The book provides you with a useful insight into the breadth of subjects available in design education. It also offers you an important set of practical and theoretical chapters that encourages you to debate and appreciate all that it takes to become a successful designer.
Use the book to explore all the design disciplines, not just the ones that you are naturally drawn to There is also advice on placements, networking and job-seeking. Design is a fascinating, broad subject served by many different companies and organisations, and in order to work in these companies (and with them if you set up your own business) you need to make a success of your studies and make the most of your time as a student.
There is a wide range of practice to choose from. You could become a designer in the industry, work for yourself as a self-employed designer-maker or produce designs to specific briefs for a range of different clients. You would then be operating as a consultant. There is also a lot of multi-disciplinary practice ā projects requiring different types of designer or projects where you have to do more than one thing ā product and graphics for instance.
Reading about other designers will help you appreciate the commonalities and subtle differences between the disciplines and heighten your awareness of the cross-disciplinary opportunities there are to work in other areas.
Some designers are widely experienced and work in more than one discipline. This is known as multi-disciplinary working. Self-employed designers, and those working in smaller companies, more often have to work across different disciplines ā be responsible for more than just their own discipline. However, everyone at some point will have to work with other designers from other disciplines.
Cross-disciplinary: a designer moving into another discipline. For example, a graphic designer might become interested in designing products.
Multi-disciplinary: this is an opportunity for a designer to have responsibility for working across two different disciplines. For example, a fashion designer might design the clothes and then also design the print for the fabric (therefore working across both fashion and textiles).
There is also the possibility for people with design qualifications to cross into other professions. There is a set of transferable skills that designers need to be equipped with, such as problem solving, lateral thinking and having an eye for detail, which can lead to other careers. Many large companies in the retail sector have teams of buyers who select the product ranges you see in the stores. A knowledge of good design, manufacturing and costing, all of which you will pick up on any design course, is crucial to this role. Others will find that their generic business skills will allow them to move into business and marketing roles in the future.
Once you have graduated you might also consider postgraduate study or teaching. Some students use postgraduate study to delve deeper into their discipline and others use it to cross over and explore other design disciplines. For example, graphic designers might move into interactive media design and furniture designers into interior design. In some cases this can lead to wanting to undertake further research and study for a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy). This will enable you to become a true expert in your field, perhaps with practical and written work published. Other students become very passionate about the written word and develop excellent writing skills, perhaps moving into journalism.
The main contributors to this book have amassed many years of experience through practising, teaching and writing about design. Some of the contributors of the project stories were students when this book was published. Others were just beginning their careers, with some setting up their own companies. What all these people have in common is a desire to tell you about their experiences as a practitioner and offer advice into the profession and practice of design.
We hope that all of the experiences contained in this book will help you to make a success of your studies and help you plan your own career. This is how the text has been structured.
Part 1 ā What is design?
Jon Pennās illustration of his Spatial Design proposal
This section contains the various disciplines of design. You will see where you might fit into the big network of design and what possibilities are open to you. Design is a multi-disciplinary profession covering craft, fashion and textiles, graphics, interactive media, theatre, film and television, spatial and 3D design. Each of these disciplines is covered in its own section. In your future you may be working with any of these disciplines and very possibly you will cross over into others at times. Therefore it is important to develop an understanding of the differences in motivation, skills and approaches between these different designers. The process of design is described, illustrated by project stories from industry and from students, so you can gain a greater understanding of what it takes to be a good designer.
Each of the design discipline sections contains an overview and details about:
Todayās industry. This provides you with a broad overview of the industry and illustrates the kind of companies that exist and how you might work within the industry.
What courses are there? Describes the range of study opportunities and highlights the differences between them.
Career opportunities. Covers the breadth of possibilities and where they might lead are explored.
What will you be taught? This breaks down the first, second and final year project work.
What is the design process? This is explained through student and industry projects, illustrating the process of designing in the specific disciplines.
What will the final year be like? Read about the studentsā stories and projects to illuminate the final year experience.
Preparing your portfolio. Summarises the specific requirements for the different disciplines. There is also a comprehensive set of guidelines in Chapter 9 āHow to succeed as a design studentā and Chapter 15 āSo, where is this going to take you?ā.
Further resources. This is an important list of books, websites, etc. that signposts you to core texts that you will want to explore.
Project stories and career profiles. These are captivating stories, full of personal insights into either an individualās career or how a student, designer or company worked through a project.
Part 2 ā What do you need to know?
Exploring colour and texture
This section contains information on āHow to succeed as a design studentā, āBeing creative and innovativeā, āAppreciating aestheticsā and āWorking with colourā ā all essential design skills. Here you will find advice on study skills, how to manage your learning and preparing a CV and portfolio. There will be examples from the real world and education once again...
