In This Issue

AMPLIFYING VOICES

It’s no secret that industrial design education is (and has been) at a crossroads in terms of what is being taught, how that content is being delivered, and who is standing at the head of the class. It is, at times, both an existential crisis and an opportunity for its future. As if this wasn’t enough, the relentlessness of the pandemic has had a profound effect on traditional academic institutions, who have suddenly found themselves in a position where they needed to rethink everything. But if we look deeper, there are many more layers to explore.

In this issue, we expand the Academia 360° column (introduced in Spring 2021) into a complete collection of essays that illustrate the complicated and multidimensional reality in which design academia resides. This includes addressing head-on the topics of equality, equity, diversity, wellness, and work culture in industrial design education, to name a few. In many ways, this is a continuing of the conversation started in the Winter 2020 issue, Education Interrupted, which attempted to broach such topics as keeping pace with professional practice and the shifting industrial design landscape, dismantling biased institutional norms of “good design,” and creating a system that provides equitable access to quality educational opportunities. At the end of the day, all of these have a direct impact on the quality of education a student receives and on the first impressions a young designer digests at the earliest stages of their career.

The guest editors of this issue aim to amplify voices in and around academia that have not been heard enough in the past. Aziza Cyamani, IDSA, and Verena PaepckeHjeltness, IDSA, are two of IDSA’s most active educators in the field today. Both are tremendously passionate about their work, and IDSA is thankful to have their efforts reflected here in these pages as a sounding board for our community to reflect upon. We hope this serves as a call to action for both design educators and design practitioners that there is no time like the present to make the changes necessary to ensure industrial design is taught in an inclusive, interdisciplinary, and holistic way.

We also celebrate young talent from our community: the winners and finalists of the 2021 Student Merit Awards. This long-standing program is a central component of the IDSA student membership experience, which routinely shines a spotlight on some of our best and brightest student designers and the academic programs they represent. Thank you to all the students and educators who contribute to making this nationwide competition a reality each year. It couldn’t be done without your support and belief in its impact.

INNOVATION has long been a vehicle for critical discourse related to all matters connected to the practice of industrial design. It’s also been a place for commemoration and accolades for those in our community who are achieving their best. Both require a level of awareness that acknowledges the state of design as it is today but also provides an optimism for what is ahead.

—INNOVATION Editorial Team