“The Future of Design and Design Education” symposium as kick-off event: food for thought on essential issues

Kicking off the campus project, Die Neue Sammlung and the iF Design Foundation hosted a public symposium on 27 October 2022 at the X-D-E-P-O-T of the Pinakothek der Moderne. First off, Michele De Lucchi (AMDL Circle, Milan) discussed "Design and Inspiration." Born in 1951, the Italian is one of the most significant designers and architects of our time. He has made history as co-founder of two important 20th century design movements: Alchimia and Memphis. He has designed furniture for the most renowned Italian and European companies and he has realized numerous architectural projects in Italy and abroad. From 2001 Michele De Lucchi taught at the IUAV in Venice; in 2008 he was appointed professor at the School of Design at the Politecnico of Milan and a member of the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca in Rome.

"My conclusion from decades of teaching is that the most important source of inspiration is dialogue," says Michele De Lucchi. "And not only the dialogue between teachers and students, but also that between the knowledge and responsibility of each individual, in reflection of individual action." Another important source of inspiration cited by Mr. De Lucchi (who recently turned 70 and ended his professorship on that date in accordance with Italian statutes), was the willingness to deviate: "If you want to innovate, sometimes you have to go where no one else is going," he said. "Making mistakes in the process is not a problem, as long as you know when you have made a mistake." Finally, he described life itself as an important source of inspiration, because, "we don't just design objects or products, but the everyday interaction with them and thus the behavior of the users."

How do you teach creativity? How do you teach emotional intelligence or trust?

Together with Annette Diefenthaler (IDEO, San Francisco) and Gareth Loudon (Royal College of Arts, London), Michele De Lucchi formed the panel that exchanged views on the future of design and design education. "Innovation has to be one of the main topics of design education, according to the results of our research," said host René Spitz, board member of the iF Design Foundation.

Starting the discussion, he turned to London design professor Gareth Loudon as an expert on teaching innovation. The key aspects, René Spitz said, are soft skills and emotional intelligence – from trust to respect to creativity and empathy. "But how do you teach trust? How do you teach emotional intelligence?" he asked Gareth Loudon. And to the panel in general: "How do we learn in the first place? When are we ready for it? What circumstances are required? What prerequisites must students bring with them? How must the concrete learning situation be designed? How do we teach and learn creativity? How important is creativity? Why is it necessary for the future of design education? What do we, as designers, need to know about anthropology, psychology, technology? And what do we learn from this knowledge with regard to improving design and the future of design education?"

Like Michele De Lucchi, Gareth Loudon is convinced that dialogue is an important tool in learning: "Listening to others, but also listening to yourself is essential in my opinion. Dialogue is not just about action, it should always be balanced with reflection." Teaching emotional intelligence was not easy, he said: "In our programs, we don't teach emphasize the importance of empathy. We also try to develop trust. By working in diverse teams, our students learn to listen with empathy to people who have backgrounds that are very different from theirs. Trust develops from this understanding."

Annette Diefenthaler's (IDEO, San Francisco) design practice is interdisciplinary. She specializes in "Design and Transdiscliplinarity," among other subjects. From January 2023, she will bring her expertise to the Technical University of Munich (TUM) as head of a new design institute. "Design is a discipline that must constantly evolve; transdisciplinarity therefore means an evolution of design practice," René Spitz said. He asked Annette Diefenthaler as to how we learn this in or through our studies. “How does design education have to change with regard to that? Designers have to apply their creativity to increasingly complex challenges that involve a high degree of responsibility. Do they acquire the right tools and the necessary wisdom for this in their education? How do design studies need to change with regard to these issues?"

Turning to Michele De Lucchi, who describes himself as a designer who thinks with a pencil in his hand ("Thinking with Hands"), René Spitz asked: "This interplay of hand and head, the interdependence of imagination and expression – to what extent do students have to master this before they enroll on a course? What do they need to learn in terms of craftsmanship during their studies? And how will artificial intelligence affect that?"