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Methodological Tools For Informed And Critical Alienation, Liene Jakobsone Sep 2025

Methodological Tools For Informed And Critical Alienation, Liene Jakobsone

Learn X Design Conference Series

This paper proposes Speculative design as a methodology to cultivate criticality and self-awareness in design students. It introduces a course assignment and discusses a range of approaches that have enabled the achievement of the anticipated learning outcomes. As part of this account, students’ difficulties to question the prevailing economic and socio-political system is presented, along with a proposal to overcome this issue. The method is based on the Speculative design project ‘United Micro Kingdoms’ by Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby. The ideological framework developed within this project is adopted for pedagogical purposes. This framework, depicted as a coordinate plane with …


Questioning The Intersection Of Design Thinking, Public Policy And Circular Economy: A Visual Critique, Joana Alves Dos Santos, Violeta Clemente, Paulo Silva Sep 2025

Questioning The Intersection Of Design Thinking, Public Policy And Circular Economy: A Visual Critique, Joana Alves Dos Santos, Violeta Clemente, Paulo Silva

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Through a fragmented and interrogative visual critique, this submission critically examines the intersection of Design Thinking (DT) and Circular Economy (CE) governance in policymaking. It stems from the authors’ engagement with both academic literature and practical experiences in design facilitation and participatory governance, particularly within Portuguese contexts. The work responds to recurring narratives observed in these domains, and uses visual argumentation to unpack their underlying assumptions. It argues that while both DT and CE are widely promoted as tools for systemic change and participation, their application often inadvertently reinforces existing hierarchies and limits genuine community engagement, rather than fostering equitable …


Discoverability, Availability, Circularity: An Upcycling Design Workshop, Virginie Tessier Sep 2025

Discoverability, Availability, Circularity: An Upcycling Design Workshop, Virginie Tessier

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Collective efforts to encourage the climate transition raises essential questions regarding industrial design practices. On that matter, the design process, based on the creation of goods using new resources, is questioned. Design needs to adapt and question its practices with the global desire to reduce the use of new energy, material, and resources. This paper explores the integration of upcycling and circular design in a workshop as part of the training of industrial designers. Based on the principle of “form follows availability”, the initiative stands out as complementary to traditional design workshop projects. The workshop is presented in detail with …


Learning By Teaching Blended International Design Workshops, Daniel Buzzo, Kristina Andersen, António Gorgel, Jonathan Chacón Pérez, Martin Knobel, Lara Piccolo, Pras Gunasekera Sep 2025

Learning By Teaching Blended International Design Workshops, Daniel Buzzo, Kristina Andersen, António Gorgel, Jonathan Chacón Pérez, Martin Knobel, Lara Piccolo, Pras Gunasekera

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This paper draws upon the experience of designing events to provide design students with a multicultural and inspirational learning environment for exchanging knowledge and collectively build new skills. To this end, it reports on the planning, structure and subsequent delivery of an EU Erasmus+ workshop funded “Blended Intensive Program (BIP)” in a collaboration between four Design programs from four EU countries. Four professors and more than 20 undergraduate students participated, assisted by administrative staff from each of the institute’s international offices, collaborating through a blended online and in-person format. Together, the students brought both similar and different perspectives on design …


Reaffirming Learning – A Micro Examination Of Teaching Interventions And Their Connectedness, Noemi Sadowska, Tara Hanrahan Sep 2025

Reaffirming Learning – A Micro Examination Of Teaching Interventions And Their Connectedness, Noemi Sadowska, Tara Hanrahan

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This case study provides a perspective on engaging postgraduate design students in activities exploring eco-social responsibility in relation to their creative practice. It zooms into the roles and learning impacts of a collaborative online space and series of online discussion sessions, which are situated within wider research trialling a system of teaching interventions that positively disrupt the curriculum, as a mechanism for awakening learning around responsible design. It offers insights and reflection on the teaching and learning system, mapping the interconnectivity of its components whilst synthesising discoveries regarding the roles they play in building connections, reaffirming learning and navigating uncertainty.


Prompting Reflective Learning Through Card-Based Approaches, Jesper Legaard, Safia Suhaimi, Jo Ward, Andrew Walters Sep 2025

Prompting Reflective Learning Through Card-Based Approaches, Jesper Legaard, Safia Suhaimi, Jo Ward, Andrew Walters

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This study explores how two different card-based approaches, Cards of Doom and CO:RE cards, complement or inspire each other when applied outside their originally intended contexts. C.O.D is designed for design students while CO:RE targeted non-design professionals. Both tools offer semi-structured approaches to facilitate collaborative discussion among participants, fostering reflective capacity within creative-oriented contexts. An analysis of multiple card-play sessions of C.O.D and CO:RE in both their original and alternate contexts revealed three important themes; tension, psychological safety, and dialogic interaction, prompting reflective learning in the participants. The study contributes to the broader discourse on playful learning in design education, …


Designing With Communities For Humanity-Centered Design: Advancing Sustainability Knowledge And Practices In Industrial Design Education, Yoon Jung Choi, Jiayuan Dong, Brook Kennedy Sep 2025

Designing With Communities For Humanity-Centered Design: Advancing Sustainability Knowledge And Practices In Industrial Design Education, Yoon Jung Choi, Jiayuan Dong, Brook Kennedy

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Participatory design with community engagement has demonstrated significant potential for addressing the complexities of environmental governance and fostering interconnected systems to accelerate the circular economy. This highlights the need for a paradigm shift in design education, transitioning from traditional human-centered methodologies to a broader humanity-centered approach. This paper examines insights gained by Industrial Design students at Virginia Tech through a collaboration with local stakeholders in Floyd aimed at promoting sustainability. The project focused on reducing wasteful behaviors associated with end-of-life products by developing design and service solutions to minimize landfill disposal through participatory design processes. Students proposed twenty-seven design concepts …


Examining The Impact Of Design Studies: Systems And Persuasion Courses On Undergraduate Design Students At Carnegie Mellon University, Luis Garcia, Audrey Reiley, Albert Zhang Sep 2025

Examining The Impact Of Design Studies: Systems And Persuasion Courses On Undergraduate Design Students At Carnegie Mellon University, Luis Garcia, Audrey Reiley, Albert Zhang

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This study examines the impact of two courses, Systems and Persuasion, within Carnegie Mellon University's Design Studies curriculum. Through qualitative analysis of a substantial number of reflective responses collected via weekly exit tickets, the research identifies key themes that highlight the influence of these courses on second-year undergraduate design students. Students gained a nuanced understanding of design as a systemic, ethical, and collaborative practice, emphasizing systems thinking, empathy, and the implications of behavioral change across multiple scale levels. The findings suggest that students developed a heightened awareness of the interconnectedness of design interventions, recognizing the broader societal and environmental consequences …


Exploring Cultural Frames And The Visual Language Of Rituals, Amrita Datta, Amy Fortunato Sep 2025

Exploring Cultural Frames And The Visual Language Of Rituals, Amrita Datta, Amy Fortunato

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In Visual Communication Design, significant emphasis on intercultural communication has aided the development of intercultural competence. This case study investigates how design education can develop cross-cultural awareness by focusing on how cultural frames evolve through experiences and societal perception while becoming increasingly layered and complex. To fully extricate oneself from one's cultural context is challenging, but raising awareness of its limitations and subtleties is achievable. Recognizing diverse cultural frames can broaden one's perspective, leading to a more nuanced understanding of both the articulation and consumption of messaging in visual communication. Two educators located in different socio-political contexts in the United …


Transforming Education: Add-On Workshops As A Tool To Integrate Ethical Responsibility In Design Education, Elisabeth Friesinger, Stephan Krusche Sep 2025

Transforming Education: Add-On Workshops As A Tool To Integrate Ethical Responsibility In Design Education, Elisabeth Friesinger, Stephan Krusche

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Design education plays a critical role in shaping sustainable societal and environmental futures, making ethical responsibility essential. This paper examines the integration of short, flexible workshops into courses to intertwining ethics and sustainability across diverse educational contexts. Implemented at three German Universities of Applied Sciences, the workshops aimed to raise awareness and encourage students to engage with ethical challenges in their design practice. A mixed-methods evaluation, combining post-workshop surveys and facilitator observations, found that the workshops appear to increase students' awareness and understanding of their responsibilities as designers. Key success factors included an informal, interactive format and adaptability to educational …


From Portfolio To Prototype: Tinkering Workshops In Design Education, Dajana Nedic, Rachael Paine Sep 2025

From Portfolio To Prototype: Tinkering Workshops In Design Education, Dajana Nedic, Rachael Paine

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In contemporary graphic design education, there is a significant need for hands-on exploration that bridges traditional design tools with emerging technologies. This exploration affords students with opportunities to engage in tinkering—a process of iterative, playful experimentation that fosters innovation and adaptability. As Cezzar (2020) explains, by critically reflecting on material opportunities and limitations through questioning tools, materials, and processes, students gain more knowledge and clarity when creating physical and digital tools. We sought to address this opportunity by developing a technology-focused tinkering workshop at University A (name of University masked for blind review). This workshop invited students to examine the …


Exploring Cross-Disciplinary Lessons In Interaction Design Courses, Joshua Pridemore, Molly Briggs, Abigail Chen, Laura Chiaramonte, Rachael Dietkus, Fengzhou Shao, Ben Tairy, Fan Xia, Yiqi Xiao, Amanda Yates Sep 2025

Exploring Cross-Disciplinary Lessons In Interaction Design Courses, Joshua Pridemore, Molly Briggs, Abigail Chen, Laura Chiaramonte, Rachael Dietkus, Fengzhou Shao, Ben Tairy, Fan Xia, Yiqi Xiao, Amanda Yates

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This case study explores the transformative potential of cross-disciplinary approaches in teaching interaction design for social impact. By integrating insights from diverse fields such as trauma-informed design, interactive dance, media theory, and environmental storytelling, the course challenges students to think beyond traditional design practices. Students were encouraged to create projects that not only demonstrated technical and creative expertise but also engaged deeply with emotional, societal, and ethical dimensions of design. The course culminated in a public exhibition where students showcased interactive installations addressing real-world issues, including online safety, animal testing, environmental awareness, and technology addiction. Through a combination of theoretical …


Using Reverse Engineering To Bridge Design Theory And Manufacturing Practice, Manuel Hodrius Sep 2025

Using Reverse Engineering To Bridge Design Theory And Manufacturing Practice, Manuel Hodrius

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This case study presents an approach for bridging the persistent gap between design education and manufacturing practice. The module combines reverse engineering, simulated production planning, and cross-functional collaboration within a dual-track structure of theoretical lectures and a hands-on Planspiel (simulation game). It aims to strengthen students’ Design for Manufacturing knowledge and foster an interrelated mindset that enables effective collaboration across the product development process (PDP) and supports informed, strategic design decisions early on. Weekly collaborative sessions simulate authentic professional interactions, while students assume distinct industry roles, mirroring real-world team dynamics and reinforcing the systemic integration of design and production. Despite …


Teaching The Ethical Responsibility As A Foundation For Designers, Juan De La Rosa Sep 2025

Teaching The Ethical Responsibility As A Foundation For Designers, Juan De La Rosa

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Although several authors have urged us over the years in the importance of ethics in the field of design, it is still less than common for design schools to introduce ‘ethics’ as part of the curriculum, beisides the possible conversation of ethical practice that could emerge during studio or workshop classes. This paper explores two experiences including ethics as a main topic of education for designers in two different design schools, and the different results obtained during the process.


Multilingual Design, Isabel Meirelles, Diane Mikhael, Lesley-Ann Noel, Lesley-Ann Noel Sep 2025

Multilingual Design, Isabel Meirelles, Diane Mikhael, Lesley-Ann Noel, Lesley-Ann Noel

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This conversation is an interview between three professors from a university located in a large cosmopolitan city in Canada. The interview to understand the motivation behind the similar approaches of two of the professors. During the conversation, the professors explore the complexity and opportunities for curricula innovation when teaching design in a very diverse context. They explore how themes of pluriversality, multiculturalism, identities, resilience, and how complicated intersectionality and the local context intertwine and have impacted their curricula, and how these themes can inform the design classes. The professors’ focus in the conversation is on pedagogical strategies, specifically, how they …


The Fuzzy Edges Of Online Design Studios, Nicole Lotz, Derek Jones, Tina Deiml-Seibt Sep 2025

The Fuzzy Edges Of Online Design Studios, Nicole Lotz, Derek Jones, Tina Deiml-Seibt

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This conversation paper draws upon the professional expertise of three designers of educational online studios. By reflecting on the design, development, and use of two online design studios, Incom and ODS, over the past two decades, the research explores the ‘fuzzy edges’ of studio environments. Studio carries rich peripheral information and ambient awareness, enabling studio users to ‘read the room’. This inherently fuzzy yet crucial process facilitates the formation of impressions that guide and sustain social engagement. While a precise definition of this fuzziness remains elusive, key characteristics can be identified: experiential, visible, performative, incomplete, negotiated, and opportunistic, which are …


When Methods Create Space: A Conversation On Intertwining Disciplines, Cultures And Communities In Design Education, Niki Wallace, Laura Knight Sep 2025

When Methods Create Space: A Conversation On Intertwining Disciplines, Cultures And Communities In Design Education, Niki Wallace, Laura Knight

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The nature of design education is changing and must continue to change in response to increasing complexity and uncertainty. This paper presents a conversation between two UK-based design educators who explore how these contemporary societal challenges are being tackled in two interdisciplinary Masters courses aimed at relational and complexity-led approaches to design. The conversation reveals the importance for complex and collaborative practices to embrace relational, visual, reflexive and flexible modalities. This in turn highlights the need for teaching to evolve beyond fixed design processes in order to develop flexible practitioners with the critical capacities for navigating uncertain futures.


Unfolding Dialogue: Pedagogies Of Reciprocity And Community In Design, Charlotte Falk, Amanda Huynh Sep 2025

Unfolding Dialogue: Pedagogies Of Reciprocity And Community In Design, Charlotte Falk, Amanda Huynh

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How can dialogue between educators reveal the shared labour and supports that sustain responsive design teaching? What role does dialogic exchange play in shaping and improving the relational work of design educators? In response to the calls for conversation and for teaching statements, this paper formalizes an ongoing dialogue between two emerging industrial design educators. Anchored by the theme Intertwinia: Principles and Methods, we explore shared commitments to adaptability, experimentation, and collaboration in design education. Building on exchanges that began when we first co-taught a course—then evolved through informal studio snapshots, late-night text threads, remote critiques, and cross-institutional, transcontinental conversations—this …


Tutor Guidance In Design Studio: Study Of Effects And Challenges, Mithra Zahedi, Virginie Tessier Sep 2025

Tutor Guidance In Design Studio: Study Of Effects And Challenges, Mithra Zahedi, Virginie Tessier

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This paper reports a case study exploring the collaborative design process of students in an industrial design studio during the final year project. The study is on the impact of the tutor’s guidance on students during the first seven weeks of a 15-week project period when framing and ideation of the project were planned. The case study is composed of two projects involving four students and looked into the students’ reflective thinking. The participating students used a research-through-design approach for collecting data. They were asked and guided to document their design activities as their project advanced. They were also asked …


Move Slow Or Fail Fast? Enhancing Stem Design Education With Ai-Assisted Iterative Workflows, Yingying Sun Sep 2025

Move Slow Or Fail Fast? Enhancing Stem Design Education With Ai-Assisted Iterative Workflows, Yingying Sun

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The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into industrial design education offers transformative potential, particularly within the interdisciplinary context of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) programs. This paper explores how AI-assisted, hypothesis-driven approaches can address cross-disciplinary challenges and enhance the iterative design process in STEM-related design projects. Using a controlled comparative study, we investigate the efficiency and interdisciplinary knowledge integration enabled by AI tools such as Large Language Models (LLMs). Our findings reveal that AI not only accelerates workflows by automating routine tasks but also fosters deeper exploration of technical and contextual knowledge. Participants leveraging AI demonstrated greater productivity, producing …


Sociology Through/With Design: Embedding Social Justice Into Design Pedagogy, Anqi Rong, Nina Hansopaheluwakan Edward Sep 2025

Sociology Through/With Design: Embedding Social Justice Into Design Pedagogy, Anqi Rong, Nina Hansopaheluwakan Edward

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Today, many design problems involve complex social and political issues; however, design students often struggle to comprehend the intricacies of these challenges and the depth of existing knowledge. Sociology provides foundational principles for understanding and influencing society, including strategies for supporting communities in combating injustice across various domains. Addressing critical, participatory, inclusive, and speculative design by embedding social justice in design pedagogy allows students/designers to better reflect on the ethical and social consequences of perpetuating stereotypes and provides a starting point for addressing social issues that arise from injustice. We propose that there are three main reasons for incorporating social …


From Awareness To Action: Embracing Sustainability Topics – An Interview Study About Sustainability Topics With Graphic Design Stakeholders, Fengjin Yu Sep 2025

From Awareness To Action: Embracing Sustainability Topics – An Interview Study About Sustainability Topics With Graphic Design Stakeholders, Fengjin Yu

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Graphic design has the potential to integrate the topic of sustainability due to its interdisciplinary and systemic nature. However, few studies have explored the current situation of sustainability topics within the graphic design field. Through semi-structured interviews, this study explores the current state of sustainability topics in graphic design within Higher Education (HE) settings to explore the possibilities of graphic design on sustainability. This study involved 16 HE graphic design stakeholders in the UK. Findings highlighted the dilemmas and challenges stakeholders encounter when teaching, practising and researching sustainability topics, and identified potential solutions to address these dilemmas. Results show that …


Artificial Intelligence In Future Art And Design Education, Tore Andre Ringvold, Ingri Strand, Peter Haakonsen, Kari Saasen Strand Sep 2025

Artificial Intelligence In Future Art And Design Education, Tore Andre Ringvold, Ingri Strand, Peter Haakonsen, Kari Saasen Strand

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What future challenges and opportunities might AI bring to art and design education, and how can the educational system best be prepared? In a changing society, rapid technological developments can change the need for competences. An example of rapidly evolving technology is artificial intelligence, here limited to text-to-image generation. This is technology where you can write a text to generate an image in a digital system that is trained by large amounts of image and text combinations. Towards an unknown future with constantly new technological innovations, we should have an open but critical look at the opportunities and challenges that …


Spatial-Data Sensemaking: Learning Architecture In The Climate Emergency, Martha Bohm Sep 2025

Spatial-Data Sensemaking: Learning Architecture In The Climate Emergency, Martha Bohm

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Sensemaking is the process of constructing and refining new understandings from the chaos of information surrounding us; during sensemaking cues are extracted from an otherwise overwhelming body of varied information and attended to such that action is possible. Sensemaking is inherent to design praxis, but there are substantial gaps in the literature describing the sensemaking processes which are relevant to design. This paper makes the case that a particular, novel sensemaking praxis, termed spatial-data sensemaking, occurs in architectural design but is heretofore undescribed; this process occurs when constructing an understanding of climate emergency data whilst developing a spatial proposal. This …


How Playing Or Making Card Games Can Support Universal Design Teaching, Richard Herriott, Asa River Jackson Sep 2025

How Playing Or Making Card Games Can Support Universal Design Teaching, Richard Herriott, Asa River Jackson

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This paper investigates the relative merits of card game making and card game play as a part of teaching Universal Design (UD) theory. The hypothesis was that game approaches could be used to explain and impart the theory of Universal Design in a class room setting. The study involved comparing students´ graphic representations of the design process before and after a lecture and a) UD game making or b) UD game playing activity. Comparison of the graphic representations showed that incidence of design tools (all classes of tool) increased and incidence use of user-centered design tools increased. Game-players were slightly …


Design Thinking Pedagogy In A Culture Of Information Immediacy, Ahu Yolac, Philip Plowright Sep 2025

Design Thinking Pedagogy In A Culture Of Information Immediacy, Ahu Yolac, Philip Plowright

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This paper investigates design thinking pedagogy within the context of information immediacy, analysing student work from the Design Principles studio, an interdisciplinary introductory course for first-year students enrolled in five professional design programs. The course emphasizes foundational design thinking skills, including divergent and convergent thinking, abstraction, coherence, cohesiveness, and the hierarchical organization of project information. Through qualitative analysis of student projects, we identify three distinct patterns of engagement: procedural application, emerging integration, and flexible, critical workflow. These patterns reveal how students navigate and internalize design thinking tactics in an era of abundant information and digital tools. We discuss the pedagogical …


Fostering Circular Competencies In Design: From Uncertainty To Agency, Snorre Näsman, Lotte Nerup, Ditte Bangsund, Rasmus Simonsen, Eva Brandt Sep 2025

Fostering Circular Competencies In Design: From Uncertainty To Agency, Snorre Näsman, Lotte Nerup, Ditte Bangsund, Rasmus Simonsen, Eva Brandt

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This paper examines the concept of Intertwinia as a representation of new possibilities and futures in sustainable design, juxtaposing it against the often-misused term of sustainability in the corporate world. Our investigation draws upon Tony Fry’s notion of “sustain-ability” to challenge traditional discourses on sustainability, advocating for a new paradigm that recognises the finite nature of resources and the significance of ethical design interventions. We focus on the pivotal role of design educators in equipping students with the necessary capabilities to affect change in a circular economy. By highlighting the importance of incorporating a circular mindset within design education, we …


A New Career Path For Designers: Crowdwork And Designers’ Motivations To Engage In This Employment Model, İrem Dilek Alptekin, Pınar Kaygan Sep 2025

A New Career Path For Designers: Crowdwork And Designers’ Motivations To Engage In This Employment Model, İrem Dilek Alptekin, Pınar Kaygan

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The unabated development of technology continues to affect human life in many aspects, one of which is working life. Over the past decade the world of work has been experiencing digital transformation. Integrating the digital processes and tools into business models, digital transformation has led to the shift in the traditional business structures, hierarchies, relations, and the workplace. Thanks to this shift in the traditional way of work, today, it is possible to outsource the work through an open call to a geographically dispersed mass of people. This means that, companies or individuals now have access to an indefinitely large …


Is Industrial Design Education Prepared For Industry 4.0?, Christoph Koch, Blair Kuys, Gianni Renda Sep 2025

Is Industrial Design Education Prepared For Industry 4.0?, Christoph Koch, Blair Kuys, Gianni Renda

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This article explores the current state of industrial design in relation to future manufacturing technologies and paradigms. To date, no empirical research has been conducted that specifically examines the role of practising industrial designers in relation to their understanding and preparedness for technologies and systems as part of the next manufacturing revolution—Industry 4.0. As industrial design historically emerged in response to mass production, its continued relevance depends on how the profession evolves alongside technological transformation. We argue that changes in current production influence the development of the design profession and therefore its education. Although new technologies and systems are being …


Positioning Roles Of Ai Representations In Creative Conversation, Lisha Ren, Zhiwen Deng Sep 2025

Positioning Roles Of Ai Representations In Creative Conversation, Lisha Ren, Zhiwen Deng

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In design practice and education, emerging representations and tools, such as artificial intelligence (AI), are challenging the dominance of sketches as the primary creative medium. However, the role of these new representations in design disciplines and education remains ambiguous. To address this ambiguity, this paper proposes a "creative process as conversation" framework to understand representations and tools within the creative process. This framework decouples representational mediums from creative acts driven by subjective intent and knowledge source, revealing the cognitive functions of representations in ideation.. The conversational perspective clarifies AI's advantages: generating inspiring representations, accessing expansive knowledge resources, and integrating different …