Vehicle design by Brett Stoltz, exhibited at DAAPworks 2014

This is the latest installment of D-School Futures, our interview series on the evolution of industrial design education. Today we have answers from Craig Vogel, associate dean of the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP), and a professor in the School of Design with an appointment in Industrial Design.

How different is industrial design education today than it was ten years ago? Will it look very different ten years from now?

ID has continued to evolve since it came of age in the 1930s. The last decade has witnessed several key changes. Design process has continued to decrease in time from concept to market. Globalization in development and distribution has continued, and new markets continue to grow as emerging economies have developed a middle class hungry for products and services. Major markets have shifted from the U.S. and Europe to Asia, South America and countries in Africa. Companies are realizing that green design is not only responsible but profitable as well. Baby boomers in the U.S. and their peers in global markets are creating new market demands in inclusive design, and women dictate much of the consumer spending for domestic products.

Perhaps the biggest change, however, is the shift in emphasis from standalone products and interfaces to interconnected products integrated into the growing service economy. MAYA's concept of trillions provides a clear insight into this factor, and products like Nest demonstrate the need for designers to think of products embedded in systems.

Sports and performance products will continue to be a major area for design, as humans around the world seek to be more active and healthy. The concept of soft products overlapping with fashion has continued to complement traditional "hard" product categories. Shoe design is the new car design. Medical design continues to grow and expand with the emphasis on empathic centered healthcare, the percentage growth of individuals over 75, and the decentralization of healthcare. More patients are healing at home or choosing to age in place. Interest in opportunities for socially responsible design is also growing. Companies and individual designers are seeking to serve the needs of a global community at the base of the pyramid, who lack the resources to pay for design but are desperately in need of design services.

The role of design continues to expand horizontally and vertically as design processes and ways of thinking are seen as valid for strategic planning as well as product implementation. Finally, entrepreneurial opportunities are increasing and will continue to grow in the next decade as the cost of product development and introduction into small and medium markets allow young designers to start their own companies. Many students come to college today seeking to launch their own companies rather than looking for consultant or corporate opportunities. Students are combining social responsibility with new funding options, and they can compete in local markets and global markets with new ways to develop and distribute products. Cincinnati is one of many cities creating the new economy of young entrepreneurs networking locally and globally. Design Impact is a small Cincinnati-based company focused on local and global design for social change. Design also exists at various levels of scale; LPK and Spicefire are two examples of global consultancies based in the city. P&G continues to maintain its commitment to design integration across their business units and in R&D. Clay Street is a novel design-innovation function within the company, and Shane Meeker is the only industrial designer running one of the largest company archives in the world.

Left: Craig Vogel. Right: Scooter by Miranda Steinhauser and wheelchair concept by Sandra Lin, both exhibited at DAAPworks 2014

Shoe design by Jon Kosenick

What would you say to a prospective student who worries about the relevance of an ID education in an increasingly digital world?

Design education will give you the ability to think creatively and flexibly to respond to the changes in meeting the emerging needs of humans in a limited global ecosystem. Designers must become confident players in multifunctional teams and recognize the goal of using design processes to contribute to innovative solutions that support the lifestyle needs of consumers as inclusively as possible, in the most environmentally responsible way while also contributing to a company's growth and profit. Designers can find opportunities in small and large organizations, but also current education and the strong economy provides graduates with diverse skills to create their own companies.

Design degrees will give you the ability to start a career, but everyone graduating today must be willing to change every few years. Design graduates are given an entry visa that must be renewed constantly. Designers need to think of a career as akin to improvisational jazz; it requires vision to know where you want to go and the flexibility to react and change as needed. Designers must learn to use digital tools and must not only think of product development software and rapid prototyping, but also look at interface and interaction design and understand how products exist in systems as subcomponents of services.

Design students must also think about adding other key components to their core degree program. Every design student must become a hybrid of multiple capabilities, using what I call a "Design plus" approach: Design plus business, psychology, ethnography, healthcare, engineering, manufacturing, law and global awareness (choose at least two). Everyone graduating from undergraduate programs must see themselves as continual students reacting to change using informal and formal learning channels. Graduate education has become a viable option to grow, respond to change and redirect a career.

A meeting of the Live Well Collaborative, a nonprofit founded in 2007 by the University of Cincinnati and Procter and Gamble.

What sets the University of Cincinnati's industrial design program apart from ID programs at other schools?

The College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning is one of the largest and most diverse colleges of its type in the world. It exists in a comprehensive research university and medical school with several world-class healthcare research centers. DAAP has both undergraduate programs and a Masters of Design program. Undergraduate students who apply are chosen for their overall academic performance, and the students applying to design have the highest academic ratings in the university. Students enter into a five-year program that combines a diverse design curriculum with a cooperative complement. Students have four professional co-op experiences starting in the second year, with one co-op per year through graduation.

UC is one of the few universities to provide a cooperative work experience with a separate cooperative college serving several colleges in complement to the teaching faculty. The School of Design has Industrial Design, Transportation, Communication and Fashion. In the fourth and fifth years, students can start to work with and take courses in other design disciplines as well as seek minors in the university. ID students take business courses—and they can take a minor in entrepreneurship—and they participate in biomedical projects, environmental projects or the Live Well Collaborative interdisciplinary studios.

The graduate program in design is international in scope and student population. It focuses on design process, strategy and research. The MDes program provides graduate assistantships connecting students to design research in DAAP and across the university. Each student has the opportunity to take one cooperative experience between the first and second year. The design thesis becomes the method for graduates to develop a unique design capability and argument. This becomes their passport to job opportunities in a broad array of new innovative jobs that are part of the new global economy.

What's the job market like for recent graduates of your program?

A DAAP undergraduate has applied for cooperative jobs four times before they graduate, so they have been tested by industry—and they have also tested several different jobs opportunities—before they graduate. A design graduate leaves UC with the equivalent of two years of work experience. They are nationally and internationally aware and have learned to work and live in several different contexts before graduation. While most students seek work with consultants and corporations, more and more graduates are looking to use their senior projects to start their own companies. DAAP design programs have a very high employment percentage and one of the best alumni networks of any other design program in the world.

Is now a good time to embark on an ID career?

If you think of an ID degree as a degree in International Design, Innovation Design and Interdisciplinary Design—then, yes, this is a great time for an ID career. You will have to understand the connection between products and systems and see your degree as way to start a career focused on innovative ways to solve problems. You will also need to see the full value of visual problem-solving as broader than sketching, 3D modeling and prototyping.

If you had to give just one piece of advice to an incoming student in your program, what would it be?

Design is not a discipline; it is a lifestyle. Our college demands a level of commitment (serious fun) that allows you to graduate with the knowledge, skills and cultural sensibility to start a career and make a significant donation to society. We expect our students to become leaders and key participants in and drivers of positive change. In my approach and interaction with designers and other educators, it is clear that design as a lifestyle commitment is at the heart of a successful career.