Title: Bridging design disciplines: preparing students for unpredictable challenges

Authors: Carolina Gill, Blaine Lilly

Addresses: Department of Industrial, Interior and Visual Communication Design, The Ohio State University, 128 North Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Ohio State University, 201 W. 19th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Department of Integrated Systems Engineering, The Ohio State University, 1971 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA

Abstract: The demands of the global economy, coupled with the necessity of finding sustainable design solutions for the environmental crises that confront us, will require designers with divergent educational backgrounds to work in close coordination. As faculty at one of the largest public universities in the USA, we find ourselves confronted with the demands of working around an institution whose size discourages cross-disciplinary collaboration. In this article, we present strategies for working around these obstacles, and three case studies of students working across disciplines on design-related problems.

Keywords: design disciplines; design process; design research; multidisciplinary education; design education; cross-disciplinary collaboration.

DOI: 10.1504/JDR.2008.024192

Journal of Design Research, 2008 Vol.7 No.3, pp.220 - 237

Published online: 28 Mar 2009 *

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