ly suggested, what the clients of design see in our work. So what if we begin with the familiar and complex?

At North Carolina State University we decided to take on this problem. We asked, what if we confront undergraduate students with the challenges of making things clear and meaningful, not making them simple—with understanding and managing complexity, not reducing it— right from the beginning of their studies. And from our investigations, we learned that beginning students could articulate sophisticated positions on issues nested within complex systems and frame problem statements that drive their own work. There was nothing about the students’ skills and insights that argued for beginning with the simple or abstract and deferring the complex and applied

until the upper levels of curriculum.

 

Trend: Thinking about the people for whom we design as participants in the design process Assumptions: Individual performance and control of outcomes are among the highest priorities

Computer scientist Gerhard Fischer, in an article titled “Beyond Couch Potatoes,” makes the argument that as technology expands, greater control moves from designers to the people for whom we design. Cognitive psychologist Liz Sanders describes this transition as thinking less of people as customers and users and more as participants and cocreators. And Henry Jenkins, of MIT’s program in comparative media studies, addresses the larger issues of participatory culture made possible by media con-

vergence. Spend a few minutes on Facebook, You Tube, eBay, or Second Life, and you instantly understand who is in control.

So if our role as designers is less about crafting objects and increasingly about designing tools, systems, and the conditions through and in which others create their own experiences, what are we doing to educate design students about engaging the people for whom we design; about platforms that are adaptable and expandable as participants and social structures evolve over time; and about working in interdisciplinary teams that include human-centered experts? How much of our curriculum is devoted to collaboration and relinquishing control? And what is our model of design leadership?

I would argue that the current basis for much of design

complex

● service design

● software design

● branding

● corporate identity

simple

● logo design

September + October 2008

artifact

experience