Fostering Creative Design Dialogue

A Research Based Online Catalogue of Video Clips

Abstract

Design dialogue with clients, including potential users of the design, is a crucial element of designing, and a worthwhile skill to teach in design education. Moreover, in educational settings, client contact can help to make design activities more relevant and authentic. But how can the genre of design dialogue be taught? In this explorative study, we collected and analyzed examples of design dialogue in an online video catalogue, to be used in design education. A literature study about creative design dialogue formed the foundation for the video catalogue. This informed the research team about important qualities in design dialogues. Subsequently, video recordings were made of design dialogues in educational settings. The recordings were made at two levels of education (post-secondary vocational training and university level) across a variety of design domains: building engineering, industrial design and multimedia design. Analysis of the videos was based on the literature study and on interviews with design teachers. Thirty-six short fragments across varying educational settings were selected as being most relevant for design teachers and students. Each of these shows one quality of design dialogue that is also described below the video. A quality is, for instance, that it combines stages of persuasive presentation about a prototype (or other model) with stages of open discussion. In a follow-up empirical study, the research team aims to describe how design teachers can use the online video catalogue as a tool for learning.