STORIES OF ACHIEVEMENT:
HOW DO WE DEFINE STUDENT DESIGN SUCCESS?

This paper explores how we, as design researchers, practitioners and educators, view and define design success in the context of design education. Within our work as design educators, we often describe a successful design student as “those that produce work which is of real distinction, showing originality of concept, interpretation and realisation as well as an outstanding grasp of the context in which their work is placed. This success is recognition of an unusual combination of talent, commitment and critical/contextual knowledge.”

Success is therefore a subjective term often used to mean a favourable or desired outcome or in relationship to an individual’s personal wealth or eminence. From a design perspective, however, success relates to products and processes turning out well – that is, the attainment of a particular desired object or end (Lloyd and Snelders, 2003; Yang, 2005). Moreover, design success can be considered from many different viewpoints – from technological to emotional, from functional to social, and from psychological to economical. The authors have investigated the relationship of a student’s design success and their personal cultural capital in the past (Rodgers and Milton, 2001) and this groundwork has been the motivation for further research.

This paper adopts a novel approach to success, however, in that it explores the notion of success from the personal accounts of a number of recent design graduates. Rather than relying on the conventional etymological, pedagogical or practical definitions of the term success, the paper seeks to provide first-hand case study stories of what it means today be a successful designer. Data concerning their formal educational success is contextualised and amplified by a preliminary analysis of results from semi-structured interviews. The paper will explore their personal agendas, motivations and approaches, comparing their perceptions with those of their peers and tutors, and how one can help foster and engender positive models of personal development and self efficacy.

References
Lloyd, P. and Snelders, D., “What was Philippe Starck thinking of?”, Design Studies, 24(3), 2003, pp. 237-253.
Rodgers, P.A. and Milton, A.I., “What Inspires Undergraduate Design Students?”, The Design Journal, 4(2), 2001, pp. 50-55.
Yang, M.C., “A study of prototypes, design activity, and design outcome”, Design Studies, 26(6), 2005, pp. 649-669.