Abstract
Ecological challenges have moved the engagement with materials to the forefront in product design as well as in design education. Apart from the focus on materials experience, increased attention is being placed upon the development of (new) materials in the process of designing. While there is no shortage of diverse approaches and methods for conducting materials experiments, the handling of the knowledge gained in the course does not yet approach scientific standards. The increasingly transdisciplinary context in which designers collaborate with other disciplines generates a growing need to prove the effectiveness and possible impact of the results gained. Thus, product design teaching has to take up this challenge and find new ways of closing the gap between the practice of material tinkering to conducting materials experiments in alignment to scientific standards. Educators need to devise expanded concepts and process models to equip students for this next stage. In this paper, a summary of how materials experiments are practiced in product design and its teaching is contrasted with characteristics of materials experiments in the field of natural sciences, denoting main differences. Building on this, preliminary results from a multi-method study with students in a product design BA-programme are presented, investigating how teaching a new generation of product designers might be improved to better prepare them for handling materials experiments in a systematic way that is compatible with other disciplines.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.030
Citation
Dittenberger, S., Moritsch, S.,and Raschauer, A.(2025) Teaching materials experiments in product design, in Clemente, V., Gomes, G., Reis, M., Félix, S., Ala, S., Jones, D. (eds.), Learn X Design 2025, 22-24 September 2025, Aveiro, Portugal. https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.030
Creative Commons License
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Conference Track
Case Study
Teaching materials experiments in product design
Ecological challenges have moved the engagement with materials to the forefront in product design as well as in design education. Apart from the focus on materials experience, increased attention is being placed upon the development of (new) materials in the process of designing. While there is no shortage of diverse approaches and methods for conducting materials experiments, the handling of the knowledge gained in the course does not yet approach scientific standards. The increasingly transdisciplinary context in which designers collaborate with other disciplines generates a growing need to prove the effectiveness and possible impact of the results gained. Thus, product design teaching has to take up this challenge and find new ways of closing the gap between the practice of material tinkering to conducting materials experiments in alignment to scientific standards. Educators need to devise expanded concepts and process models to equip students for this next stage. In this paper, a summary of how materials experiments are practiced in product design and its teaching is contrasted with characteristics of materials experiments in the field of natural sciences, denoting main differences. Building on this, preliminary results from a multi-method study with students in a product design BA-programme are presented, investigating how teaching a new generation of product designers might be improved to better prepare them for handling materials experiments in a systematic way that is compatible with other disciplines.