The Y-Shaped Designer—Connective Competences as Key to Collaboration across Disciplines

Jan Eckert

doi:10.5539/jel.v6n4p137

Abstract

This paper reports on the re-development of our MA curriculum in design. Main objective of this development is a more practice- and project-based MA Curriculum that delivers connective competences for the collaboration across disciplines, rather than specializing in a specific design domain. For design education, we therefore propose a re-visited model of T-shaped skills by proposing the Y-shaped Designer, who acts in collaborations across disciplines thanks to a disciplinary root, a clearly perceived role and the ability to generate multimodal design outputs. The paper’s discussion is based on a study of the current shift in the Swiss Creative Economy, an alumni survey, a literature review focusing undisciplinarity and a series of expert-workshops, that led to the identification of the required skills our graduates need to successfully connect with a globalizing creative economy. First results are a re-definition of the competences and learning goals targeted in the new curriculum, as well as a set of didactical approaches extending the curriculum to what is meant to become a real-world lab for MA students in design.

Highlights

IntroductionThe design generalist mostly is met with skepticism. Voices arise such as “When design can address everything, what is still left at the core of design?” (Ma, 2015, p. 1970)
In the design community, the design generalist mostly is met with skepticism
By getting a better understanding of what role undisciplinarity might play in a globalized creative economy and which connective competences might help our MA graduates to embed into this constantly changing context, we built a base for the future dialogue between, learners, educators and practitioners in our design curriculum

Summary

Introduction

The design generalist mostly is met with skepticism. Voices arise such as “When design can address everything, what is still left at the core of design?” (Ma, 2015, p. 1970). At the core of this process stands the question whether a master program in design should provide a curriculum that is focusing the specialization in a specific design discipline or whether it should facilitate interdisciplinary skills, which allow graduates to embed into different markets characterized by multidisciplinary and collaborative work environments. Whether this shift in our MA curriculum really leads to a better employability of our graduates, will be shown in a few years (as soon as first graduates will embed into the professional field). C) How might a MA curriculum support our student’s future role in their occupation by proposing a Y-shaped skill model, which pinpoints connecting competences at the junction between the disciplinary root and the ability to collaborate across disciplines

An Economy-Driven Shift in Design Education?

Undisciplinary Design—Questioning Discipline-Based Learning

Findings

Discussion and Future