This past weekend Carnegie Mellon University held their Homecoming celebrations. As a part of that, the School of Design celebrated their 75th year as well as the recognition as the oldest ID school in the country. Among an afternoon of events was a panel in which five alumni, dating from the Class of 1953 to the Class of 2009 sat and discussed their educational and professional experiences at the school.
One thing stood out to me. All of the members of the panel, except for the 2009 recent graduate, started in fields other than design. They ultimately found design as a calling that fit their intellectual and creative needs. The 2009 alum on the other hand has spent his life pursuing a career in Design. I happen to fall in that category as well. I went to a variety of art programs throughout my childhood and graduated Carnegie Mellon in Design and practice in the field. With that in mind I ask what are we, the new generation of designers, missing from the puzzle? Focused on design for so long we appreciate quality aesthetics and experiences but we lack the exposure to business, engineering, math, science and other fields that have helped sculpt the skills of the designers before us. Where will this trend of 'breeding designers since youth' take the field as opposed to our educators who found design after years of practicing in other disciplines? David Farkas Interactions Design www.dfarkasdesign.com ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
