Insights into Design Education

Image by Danielle Jedral: A superb overview of design process from the mind of a second year industrial design student.

In my Industrial Design studio classes at OCAD University, the students are tasked with keeping a design journal. Their “job” is to collect the thoughts between projects. In particular, I am looking for the insights that capture their increasing awareness of design and their personal role in this creative space.

For some the task is difficult, because it requires a certain amount of honest reflection and a particular kind of discipline, but in every single one of these journals there is a page that stands out. The best ones capture a sneak peak of a young design student’s mind as they begin to play in this space.

What is Industrial Design

Danielle Jedral was a student from last semester, and I’ve included a page from her journal here. It came out of a conversation at the very beginning of the semester as the class and I explored different ways of defining what design is, and what their roles would be in the semester. I love the page for its simple logic. Danielle offered that I could share this, which I thought was pretty special, but it means you should all go and visit her side project here.

---