Challis Hodge’s UXblog

“Conferences like HITS make me nervous because I fear that folks (particularly students, who were very much in attendance) think that life is about innovation, and then will be needlessly disappointed when they enter the real world and find out that the bulk of their time is spent shoring up poorly planned solutions.” [Peter Merholz]

I find this to be a problem that has existed in academia for a long time. My experience as a student, practicioner and an academic have allowed me to see how important it is for design students to understand the real world. When I’m in the classroom teaching, this is the single most important thing I feel I can offer my students.

I design most of my projects around a designer (student) / client (professor) relationship. I always leave room for the students to stretch the boundaries, push the limits and innovate where they will. At the same time I’m making it perfectly clear what will be expected of them in the real world. They don’t always like it, but I believe they’re better designers for it.

We should all call on our design schools and institutions to teach our future designers about the real practice of design. Innovation is important and we mustn’t give up the freedom to push boundaries in the classroom. Still we are doing a disservice to all when we graduate designers with the wrong expectations about the roles they will play in the real world!