Educating Industrial Designers for the Digital Age

With the advent of ways to visualize ideas, develop design solutions, and rapidly prototype using digital software technologies, traditional ways of teaching industrial design in the classroom environment are lately being questioned by educators, employers, and students. The intent of this class is to present a curriculum model for teaching industrial design using digital software technologies as and where applicable. We will cover courses demonstrating the incorporation of digital software technologies for ideation, modeling, project management, drafting, prototyping, analysis, and injection mold design. Successful integration of this curricular effort into the discipline of industrial design is important for bridging the gap between education and industry expectations. Select academics and industry professionals will join us in a panel format to share their reactions to the curriculum model as well as to provide insights, experiences, and validations.