The trajectory of design sketching: an inquiry into educational pathways, higher education transitions & design sketching syllabus development for 1st year product design students

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Siena, F. ORCID: 0000-0002-6908-7365, Malcolm, R., Kennea, P., Stewart, J. and Cutts, A., 2024. The trajectory of design sketching: an inquiry into educational pathways, higher education transitions & design sketching syllabus development for 1st year product design students. In: H. Grierson, E. Bohemia, L. Buck, J. Kim, I. Storer and T. Whitehead, eds., DS 131: Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (EPDE 2024). The Design Society, pp. 330-335. ISBN 9781912254200

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.35199/epde.2024.56

Abstract

The transition from secondary education to higher education for students pursuing a Product Design course is fraught with challenges. It is commonplace for first year product design students to face a variety of difficulties, with one of the most common issues being understanding and applying design sketching techniques. Most students often finding the transition from secondary education hard due to having to unlearn bad habits and re-learn good habits in the form of perspective, proportion, and positions. The understanding and implementation of the foundations of core design sketching skills is a critical aspect to grasp at the start of the higher education journey within the product design curriculum. Secondary school design courses often focus on the basics, leaving students with limited exposure to more advanced sketching techniques and tools commonly used in higher education and the industry. Ensuring that students gain this new knowledge gradually is an important factor to consider when designing a design sketching syllabus. The teaching of core design sketching skills within the higher education environment coupled with the greater expectation ideation and iteration in a design studio context is a hurdle most students face and subsequently this has an impact on the quality and quantity of work produced. The shift in expectations from secondary to higher education can be overwhelming for students who are not adequately prepared and as such it is important to understand this transition and educational pathway to suitably prepare taught design sketching content. Furthermore, there are challenges with students increasingly seeking to embrace digital design tools to communicate, overlooking traditional/analogue tools. However, some students do not appreciate the need to develop fundamentals design sketching skills before transitioning to the digital alternatives. Subsequently, students are increasingly designing within the remits/restrictions of the digital tools by jumping ahead in the design process. This paper seeks to discuss the design sketching background of students entering higher education in the product design sector. We examine the product design student design sketching pathway by exploring the education background prior to joining Nottingham Trent University (NTU), the design sketching education conducted at NTU within the first-year studies, and the aspirations of students moving forward with regards to preferred future education syllabi and their thoughts on design sketching in the industry context. A student survey completed by BA Product Design (SW/FT) students and BSc Product Design (SW/FT) students presents the student perspective leading onto a critical discussion. This discussion focusses on addressing the hurdles faced when trying to implement a seamless transition from secondary to higher education whilst attempting to further understands the needs and wants of a product design student. To conclude we will present a list of recommendations with regards to traditional and digital design sketching for higher education syllabus development and implementation.

Item Type:

Chapter in book

Description:

Paper presented at 26th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE 2024), Aston University, Birmingham, 4-6 September 2024.

Creators:

Siena, F., Malcolm, R., Kennea, P., Stewart, J. and Cutts, A.

Publisher:

The Design Society

Date:

2024

ISBN:

9781912254200

Identifiers: