“What is Design?” An Open-Ended Inquiry Among Design Students

Abstract

An elementary question seems to appear quite incessantly on experience, both as a design student and practicing pedagogue of design: What is design? This often resurfaced during conversation with fellow students, drawing some uncertainty on how to approach and define design. These uncertainties can limit the scope through which students might fully engage with the design process, and hence, their creative scope in design teaching and learning might be limited. Despite vast amounts of research showing professional design views, very little thought has been given to how students perceive the term ‘design’ within the umbrella of school education. Unless a window to such insight is opened, design teaching methods cannot be improved. This research explores the way design students conceptualize the word “design” through an open-ended inquiry that understands their views, challenges, and influences. Qualitative methods such as interviews and thematic analysis are used to grasp common themes and divergent views and shape the understanding of design by the students. Findings will prove useful in understanding how design is taught within academic institutions, and they contribute toward excellence in design pedagogy and curriculum development. The paper demonstrated the need to fill gaps amongst the students to be done by a more structured form of teaching design students. Findings can form interesting follow-up research on curriculum development improvements and the subsequent long-term effects on design learning.