A Shifting Practice Paradigm Meets a Persistent Curriculum Paradigm

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Three diagrams are labeled. The first is a representative connection of a few network nodes, described as: Students identify a problem space with a complex situation. Second is a collection of multiple node networks leading to, or synthesized as, a numbered list. It is described as: Students compare other instances of the same problem and extract shared principles; pattern-finding is integrated in the assignment. Third, icons of people appear in various fairly natural arrangements, described as: Students propose a model of the situation and compare it to those of classmates. They generate design responses and evaluate them under the model.
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Published: 2025-04-27
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34314/wfkcry79
Keywords:
colleges and universities, design curriculum, design education, design history

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Meredith Davis
North Carolina State University image/svg+xml

Abstract

There is little debate that the demands of professional design practice and design research today are significantly different from the 20th century when modern graphic and industrial design programs first entered liberal arts colleges and universities. Currently, there is much academic discourse regarding the new outcomes for which today’s designers are ­accountable under an ongoing shift in the nature of professional practice. However, design cannot fully address a new practice paradigm if design educators do not also rethink a persistent curriculum paradigm from the industrial era. This article argues that new course outlines alone are insufficient in overcoming the implicit messages about design practice delivered through the historical structure and pedagogy of college and university design programs.

Article Details

Issue

Vol. 59 No. 1 (2025): Visible Language Consortium (April 2025)

Section

Invited Article
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Author Biography

Meredith Davis, North Carolina State University

Meredith Davis is Emerita Distinguished Alumni Professor in the College of Design at North Carolina State University, where she served as Graphic Design department head and director of the PhD in Design program. She taught at the college level for 40 years, first at Virginia Commonwealth University and then at NC State. She is an AIGA Fellow and Medalist, Holladay Medalist, and NASAD Fellow. She served as president of the American Center for Design, co-authored the NASAD design accreditation standards, and conducted more than 100 curriculum reviews and consultations. She is the author of several books, including Teaching Design, and numerous articles, including the AIGA Design Futures Papers. She was principal in the firm Communication Design from 1979–1989.

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