Is specialist designer an oxymoron?

Gulari, Melehat Nil; Fairburn, Susan

Abstract

Jack-of-all-trades, master of none is a figure of speech that suits generalists well. Having special knowledge is usually confused with being an expert. Does it mean that a non-specialist or a generalist is not an expert? Curriculums of many design schools provide a generic design education, which enables designers to work across fields. Maintaining disciplinary boundaries may deepen in-depth knowledge within the field; on the other hand, developing a design curriculum encouraging students to move across disciplines produces designers who are able to work well in collaborative teams or facilitate other domain experts. This study examines the influence of this dichotomy on how we perceive expertise and recognise its value by investigating its roots in design education. Twenty-four semi-structured interviews with individuals representing SMEs and external designers were reflected on to investigate difficulties of communicating design expertise resulting from the specialist generalist dilemma. The results of this paper will inform a designer's job identity, protecting and sharing design territory and providing insights for design education.

Citation

GULARI, M.N. and FAIRBURN, S. 2013. Is specialist designer an oxymoron? The value of specialisation in the design field. In Bohemia, E., Ion, W., Kovacevic, A., Lawlor, J., McGrath, M., McMahon, C., Parkinson, B., Reilly, G., Ring, M., Simpson, R. and Tormey, D. (eds.) Proceedings of the 15th International on engineering and product design education conference (E&PDE13): design education - growing our future, 5-6 September 2013, Dublin, Ireland. Glasgow: The Design Society/Institution of Engineering Designers [online], pages 246-251. Available from: https://www.designsociety.org/publication/34720.

• Conference Name: 15th International on engineering and product design education conference (E&PDE13): design education - growing our future
• Conference Location: Dublin, Ireland
• Start Date: Sep 5, 2013
• End Date: Sep 6, 2013
• Acceptance Date: Sep 4, 2013
• Online Publication Date: Sep 4, 2013
• Publication Date: Sep 4, 2013
• Deposit Date: Mar 17, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 17, 2017
• Publisher: Design Society
• Pages: 246-251
• ISBN: 9781904670421
• Keywords: Specialisation; Specialist; Generalist; Design education; Expertise
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/2229
• Publisher URL: https://www.designsociety.org/publication/34720