Reflections on the Training and Practice of Industrial Designers in Taiwan
Abstract - The discipline of industrial design has its long tradition rooted around fine arts. Therefore, the background of most industrial designers is primarily in fine arts. It is no exception in Taiwan. We took a look at three highly rated ID programs in the US, as well as five ID programs in Europe. We then made recommendations for the ID training programs in Taiwan. Among our recommendations are: teamwork among designers and other professionals; internship programs for the students; diversifications of students' course work; design as a process of project management; transformation of culture features into design; and closer collaboration between academia and industry.
Keywords: industrial design, education, interdisciplinary, Taiwan.
Brown (2008)[3], the author of Design Thinking, stated: "The increasing complexity of products, services, and experiences has replaced the myth of the lone creative genius with the reality of the enthusiastic interdisciplinary collaborator. The best design thinkers don't simply work alongside other disciplines; many of them have significant experience in more than one. At IDEO we employ people who are engineers and marketers, anthropologists and industrial designers, architects and psychologists."
In Taiwan, Industrial Design departments at universities began to take root in 1970's. Since then, more than 30 universities have established similar programs. Yang, You & Chen (2005)[4] studied the difficulties industrial design students in Taiwan have faced and the career guidance they need. Among the students' concerns is: whether the training they receive at the college would enable them to perform their work successfully when they enter the job market.
Later, Yang, You & Kuo (2010)[5] further studied ID graduates' career experiences, with some emphasis on their skill set requirements at work. They interviewed in depth 12 industrial designers at work and found that the job requirements at work differed greatly depending upon the size of the companies they were with and the types of business the companies were in. In other words, the skill sets required vary among companies and business. One person's job requirements included not only design proposals, but also meeting with customers, and contracting a company for making a product template. Another person needed to use tools to draw designs by hand or by computer design tools. Another person was responsible for user interface design including: user testing and user need studies, and user interface design. Interestingly, one interviewee mentioned that reading, writing and speaking abilities in English is very important for him to perform at work, mainly because his work required English for documentations and presentations. Therefore, job requirements differ according to company needs. The authors further suggested the importance of internship, as the experience would minimize the discrepancies between training and actual requirements at work as experienced by the new graduates when first entered the job market.
First, we looked at three of the top industrial design programs in the U.S. and examined their main program features. We then reviewed five European educational programs in industrial designs. In doing so, we have liberally used the materials from their websites for the purpose of this presentation. Our study is based on their published program descriptions; we take the face value of their descriptions. At this point, we have no way of knowing whether there are discrepancies between what is published and what is actually practiced. Although there are educational philosophy and industrial design methods that are common among various programs in the world, each country does have unique problems such as resources, as well as advantages such as unique cultures. After reviewing some of the top ID programs in the world, we make recommendations for the training programs in Taiwan.
Want to read more? Download the full paper (PDF - 602KB).*
*This paper has been provided for educational purposes may not be republished without permission from the author.
Yao-Chung Tsao
Formerly AT&T Bell Labs
& Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA
e:
Rungtai Lin
Dean of Design College
National Taiwan University of Arts, Taiwan
e: rtlin@ntua.edu.tw
Keywords: industrial design, education, interdisciplinary, Taiwan.
1. INTRODUCTION
Although there are many elegantly and beautifully designed simple things we enjoy today, such as Alessi products and Starck's "Juicy Salif", the world in general is increasingly becoming a more complex environment with more complex designs. (Norman 2011)[1]. What worked for the past designers can become insufficient today. In the past, the major orientation of designers was around artistic talents and traditional design skills. These days, as Norman (2010)[2] argues in his core77 column, the spirit of time is rather different. He stated: "In educational institutions, industrial design is usually housed in schools of art or architecture, usually taught as a practice with the terminal degree being a BA, MA, or MFA. It is rare in design education to have course requirements in science, mathematics, technology, or the social sciences. As a result, the skills of the designer are not well suited for modern times."Brown (2008)[3], the author of Design Thinking, stated: "The increasing complexity of products, services, and experiences has replaced the myth of the lone creative genius with the reality of the enthusiastic interdisciplinary collaborator. The best design thinkers don't simply work alongside other disciplines; many of them have significant experience in more than one. At IDEO we employ people who are engineers and marketers, anthropologists and industrial designers, architects and psychologists."
In Taiwan, Industrial Design departments at universities began to take root in 1970's. Since then, more than 30 universities have established similar programs. Yang, You & Chen (2005)[4] studied the difficulties industrial design students in Taiwan have faced and the career guidance they need. Among the students' concerns is: whether the training they receive at the college would enable them to perform their work successfully when they enter the job market.
Later, Yang, You & Kuo (2010)[5] further studied ID graduates' career experiences, with some emphasis on their skill set requirements at work. They interviewed in depth 12 industrial designers at work and found that the job requirements at work differed greatly depending upon the size of the companies they were with and the types of business the companies were in. In other words, the skill sets required vary among companies and business. One person's job requirements included not only design proposals, but also meeting with customers, and contracting a company for making a product template. Another person needed to use tools to draw designs by hand or by computer design tools. Another person was responsible for user interface design including: user testing and user need studies, and user interface design. Interestingly, one interviewee mentioned that reading, writing and speaking abilities in English is very important for him to perform at work, mainly because his work required English for documentations and presentations. Therefore, job requirements differ according to company needs. The authors further suggested the importance of internship, as the experience would minimize the discrepancies between training and actual requirements at work as experienced by the new graduates when first entered the job market.
First, we looked at three of the top industrial design programs in the U.S. and examined their main program features. We then reviewed five European educational programs in industrial designs. In doing so, we have liberally used the materials from their websites for the purpose of this presentation. Our study is based on their published program descriptions; we take the face value of their descriptions. At this point, we have no way of knowing whether there are discrepancies between what is published and what is actually practiced. Although there are educational philosophy and industrial design methods that are common among various programs in the world, each country does have unique problems such as resources, as well as advantages such as unique cultures. After reviewing some of the top ID programs in the world, we make recommendations for the training programs in Taiwan.
Want to read more? Download the full paper (PDF - 602KB).*
*This paper has been provided for educational purposes may not be republished without permission from the author.
About the author
Yao-Chung Tsao
Formerly AT&T Bell Labs
& Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA
e:
Rungtai Lin
Dean of Design College
National Taiwan University of Arts, Taiwan
e: rtlin@ntua.edu.tw
