17 June 2011
Pre-Design Working Group
Practice, Research & Education Design Forum
WHO ARE WE?
PRE Design is a network in which designers, lecturers and researcher are facing the challenges of the new role of research within design practice and education, in order to educate designers as socially responsive agents for change in our society, who are actively involved in ethical, environmental and human rights issues
PRE Design is a community of design schools sharing, debating and developing ideas about the role of research in relation to the development of design practice, and its role in our contemporary society
PRE Design is an international platform through which colleagues can meet and exchange, ideas and experiences of design education, design research and the changing role of design within contemporary society
PRE Design is a knowledge base and a place for collaboration on research issues concerning the education of the practitioner researcher
WE PROMOTE ...
a diverse approach to the role of design education and research issues, and significantly we engage in active research in the areas of design and media. We look to ideas that can be harnessed by design and design education in line with our mission of:
‘socially responsive agents for change in our society, who are actively involved in ethical, environmental and human rights issues'.
We facilitate debate through the lecturer and student exchange programme, through our website in order for colleagues to share best practice within their own institution.
WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED
The initiative for PRE Design comes from three design schools: Designskolen Kolding, Oslo National Academy Of The Arts, Utrecht School of Arts. PRE Design was conceived at the Cumulus conference in Utrecht. Since then we have organised workshops in which we discussed design based research methodologies, pedagogical development and the challenges (i.e. social etc.) faced by research led design. These open workshops have been attended by a number of design schools, and have been facilitated by and documented on our website www.PREDesignforum.net. The website also supports our knowledge base, as well as operating as a further forum for lecturers to exchange and discuss ideas.
- PRE Design was asked to host and chair the debates at the CIRRUS conference ‘MA Education - How not to reinvent the wheel', held at Oslo National Academy Of The Arts, in February 2006. on MA education in Oslo.
- There have been a number of tutor exchanges, because we believe that innovation within the curricula can take place through shared experiences and collaborations in education.
- We are developing international PRE Design projects, in which the same design assignment will be worked out in different schools.
- We have been acknowledged as a sister organisation by Writing Purposefully in Art & Design, (Writing PAD) and are planning future collaborations with them.
OUR POINTS OF DEPARTURE
1. Design based Research
We are convinced that a research process which is embedded within practice, and is derived from practice, and deals with the outcomes of practice - will improve both design education and design practice. Furthermore, it is our belief that this new role of ‘research' should be developed predominately by designers. Design research should therefore not become a slavish copy of scientific or humanistic research traditions, although it can take full advantage of the methodologies developed in these different disciplines. In the search for the implementation of research methodologies designers could start by reflecting on their own tacit knowledge.
2. Educating the designer researcher
PRE Design is focussing on the education of the designer as a researcher, be it within BA MA, PhD or the life long learning perspective. There needs to be a continuous building up skills at each of these levels and connected to the next level. As a network of design schools we put education in the centre and we are looking for pedagogical strategies to teach design students how to use research to improve the quality of their design outcomes.
3. Design to improve social reality
The PRE Design network is also centered around a strong belief in the social possibilities and challenges which face design. We are less interested in design as an economic factor but more in design as a way to make this world a better place. We aim to improve design practice by using research methodologies which are in accordance with ecological, ethical and human rights issues and we see design as a medium of improving social realities. Designers are ‘agents for strategic change' and have an acute awareness and responsibility of the strength of design.
Please join our workshops or contact us (see below)
On behalf PRE Design Forum Members
Designskolen Kolding - Thomas Leerberg
KHiO / Oslo National Academy Of The Arts - Maziar Raein
Utrecht School of Arts - Anke Coumans
Contact
Do not hesitate to contact PRE Design Forum. Please email us at:
mail[at]predesignforum.net