Abstract
The design brief is considered a pivotal component in studio-based learning, yet there is a paucity of studies on the student brief genre in design education research. This work seeks to contribute by examining brief qualities from a variety of relevant sources that can help tertiary educators name, define, frame, evaluate, and present student briefs. The paper draws from the scant but growing academic literature on this topic, as well as from textbooks and publications on professional practice and design competitions. A dozen qualities are articulated from the literature that shape the purpose, content and context of briefs. Of special interest are the affective qualities of briefs, the interplay between project outcomes, learning objectives and assessment criteria, and the degree to which student briefs are “execution dependent”. A research agenda concludes the paper to comprehensively study the effects of design briefs in studio-based learning.
Keywords
problem space, design projects, design tasks, reflective practice, studio learning
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/learnxdesign.2019.09005
Citation
Sosa, R.(2019) Qualities of design briefs for studio learning, in Börekçi, N., Koçyıldırım, D., Korkut, F. and Jones, D. (eds.), Insider Knowledge, DRS Learn X Design Conference 2019, 9-12 July, Ankara, Turkey. https://doi.org/10.21606/learnxdesign.2019.09005
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Qualities of design briefs for studio learning
The design brief is considered a pivotal component in studio-based learning, yet there is a paucity of studies on the student brief genre in design education research. This work seeks to contribute by examining brief qualities from a variety of relevant sources that can help tertiary educators name, define, frame, evaluate, and present student briefs. The paper draws from the scant but growing academic literature on this topic, as well as from textbooks and publications on professional practice and design competitions. A dozen qualities are articulated from the literature that shape the purpose, content and context of briefs. Of special interest are the affective qualities of briefs, the interplay between project outcomes, learning objectives and assessment criteria, and the degree to which student briefs are “execution dependent”. A research agenda concludes the paper to comprehensively study the effects of design briefs in studio-based learning.