New Curriculum of Design - some thoughts

What is design today? What should the design education be today, or tomorrow? How much we should obey the local needs and how much the global ones? Are they the same?

We are, especially now, considering these things in Turku, when the government is cutting the design education in Turku to the minimum (and still letting some of it remain). Here some ideas (not just mine), what are at least some of the essential things in design. Title of the new design curriculum could be User Experience Design, including these kind of viewpoints:

• Service design viewpoint > Design is about to serve
• Universal design viewpoint > Design for All
• Ergonomics viewpoint > physical, cognitive and organizational
• User Centered viewpoint > there is a user, always
• User emotions viewpoint > Design touches the emotions

Business and entrepreneurship with the things above in mind.
Materials and immaterials with the things above in mind.
RDI-actions in the University with the things above in mind.

Everything above is labelled by the Design thinking (creative thinking), which should be the dominant character of a designer. Other skills come after that.

• Ability to see the needs and the possibilities (users, customers, society and the whole world)
• Ability to see the different touchpoints and will to act in collaborations with these different parties