critical look at modern change.
As part of an excellent graduate art school, Cranbrook 3D is
a laboratory for experimental
thinking and making. Most of
our students already have some
professional experience and have
returned to a research setting
to develop a unique voice within
the field. Like all of the 10 disciplines here, from painting and
sculpture to jewelry and architecture, we experiment with
new connections between form
and meaning by actually making things. A designer’s creative
autonomy and authorship is
equal to a painter’s or a cerami-cist’s. Innovation culture calls
this a “traditional, arts-based
model” of design education. We
simply call it design.
Design should be mastered
as a liberal art before it is considered a business tool. Great
design comes from an artistic
or cultural impulse, not from a
focus group. Great design starts
by creating meaningful stories
with a POV, not by building a
bulletproof business case. Great
design creates new culture, not
just clever new utilities. Great
design is about meaning first,
the market second. We want the
next great generation of designers who know how to experiment with form and meaning,
not the next generation of
strategists who churn out 8.5x11
rationalized reports on business opportunities. We want to
elevate the best American design
talent on the international radar.
Jeremy (IIT): At the IIT Institute
of Design, we believe that design
should be human centered and
improve organizational performance. By human centered, we
mean design should be based
on observed, real user needs,
not the whim or personal belief
of the designer. When we say
improve organizational performance, we mean that design
should create and deliver value
•IIT–Chicago Bike Federation Clear Air Challenge. Kristy Scovel and Jessie Gatto, Spring 2008. The project recommended transforming
the once-a-year, week long commuter challenge (companies compete to see how many of their employees ride to work) into a year-long
competition that highlights mentoring to increase the number of commuters on bicycles.
