Design Week reports that the
D&AD Xchange conference for tutors once again highlighted the "mismatch between the kind of graduates design colleges are providing and what consultancy creative heads require".
And what do design consultancies require in new graduates? In their own words "More rounded" graduates. By this they mean more creatively rounded - more understanding of
creativity, more understanding of
design. Rather than a 2 or 3 year higher education in design some have even suggested a 3 year foundation course in design (allowing design students to experience a wide variety of creative disciplines while developing their creativity) followed by only
one year of specialisation.
For some of you that would mean not getting into the web design and interactive media technology for another 3 years - and meanwhile, you learn to be a creative designer in many different media.
Given that the HND Interactive Media specification is very different from this at this stage (though is being re-written very soon), you might ask why I mention it to you.
Many of you are fighting the creative development required to be an effective designer. Many of you are focused so much on learning the technology, you are in danger of being technically good, but creatively stunted - able to use technology, but not to solve design problems.
As Neville Brody puts it: "We imagine to be able to do anything, and our software helps us believe we can... But we must move beyond the 'how' to reconsider the 'what' and the 'why'."
This is my greatest fear for some of my design students. They are most interested in learning
how to do something, but ignore the important business of learning how to decide
what they should design and
why.
If you make this mistake you may well regret it. Leaders from the industry have spoken, they want creative people, not just technitians.
If you resist the creative development aspect of your education, you may get what
you want in the short term, but in the process fail to become what your employer wants.
