What is Design Domain?
Design Domain is a 20 credit course taken by Year 2 and Year 3 students in Communication Design; Fashion Design; Interaction Design; Interior Design; Silversmithing & Jewellery and Textiles Design. It has been running for five years during which time around 50 speakers have participated in the events.
Design Domain asks students to relate their design process to what’s happening in the world past, present and future; cultural ideas; and most of all, different ways of thinking, making and doing, both within their own discipline and beyond it. In fact, in Design Domain we both respect discipline boundaries and push beyond them – just as professional designers do in their own work – in terms of our openness to inspiration and new ideas. Design Domain asks students to be curious, experimental, and willing to think outside the box in what they do, how they do it, and why.
Each Design Domain block starts with a large-scale Symposium, a series of talks by guest speakers such as designers, thinkers, curators and critics. These talks are not designed to connect directly with each and every project brief, but rather, to provide inspiring food for thought. The speakers are practitioners, designers, educators and critical thinkers who have been invited to respond to the theme and sub-theme.
The Glasgow School of Art quote:
“The Glasgow School of Art has a long-standing tradition of guest speakers from a range of backgrounds who hold a diversity of, and sometimes controversial, views and cultural reference points.
Advancing ideas and learning in this way is a critical part of what we do as an art school because it exposes students to new and challenging ideas, encouraging robust debate which respects and understands different viewpoints, cultural reference points and the historical and contemporary context of culture and creative practice. To not do so would result in a significant diminution of the student experience.”
“In all cases, we expect our guest speakers and students to behave in an appropriate way showing dignity and respect for each other and for their differing points of view”.