TY - JOUR

T1 - Comparing University Design Students’ and Tutors’ Perceptions of Creativity

AU - Rodgers, Paul Anthony

AU - Jones, Paul

N1 - This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in The Design Journal on 23/05/2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14606925.2017.1323503

PY - 2017/6

Y1 - 2017/6

N2 - This paper explores the perceptions and views of creativity amongst UK-based architecture and product design tutors and design students. This study is an extension of the authors’ earlier work that examined a group of design tutors’ views on creativity in design in a UK university design education context. The authors adopted a semi-structured interview approach and collected a series of rich insights into how design tutors and design students conceptualize creativity and how both perceive their role in developing creativity. The findings of the research indicate clear differences in the way that design tutors and design students assess their creative potential. Yet, at the same time, they both find it very difficult to define and conceptualize. The results also show that the design students generally acknowledge the role that design tutors play in promoting cultures of creativity in the university design studio, but also stressed the importance of the wider socio-cultural system. Lastly, the research reveals that many aspects of creativity in the university design studio remain shrouded in mystery and this lack of knowledge of creativity and how it facilitates design may well be compromising the education of design students. There is, however, clear interest from both the design tutors and students regarding creativity, and the value of domain-specific versus general notions of the concept of creativity in developing this cognitive skill.

AB - This paper explores the perceptions and views of creativity amongst UK-based architecture and product design tutors and design students. This study is an extension of the authors’ earlier work that examined a group of design tutors’ views on creativity in design in a UK university design education context. The authors adopted a semi-structured interview approach and collected a series of rich insights into how design tutors and design students conceptualize creativity and how both perceive their role in developing creativity. The findings of the research indicate clear differences in the way that design tutors and design students assess their creative potential. Yet, at the same time, they both find it very difficult to define and conceptualize. The results also show that the design students generally acknowledge the role that design tutors play in promoting cultures of creativity in the university design studio, but also stressed the importance of the wider socio-cultural system. Lastly, the research reveals that many aspects of creativity in the university design studio remain shrouded in mystery and this lack of knowledge of creativity and how it facilitates design may well be compromising the education of design students. There is, however, clear interest from both the design tutors and students regarding creativity, and the value of domain-specific versus general notions of the concept of creativity in developing this cognitive skill.

KW - Design

KW - Creativity

KW - design

KW - creativity

KW - architecture

KW - product design

U2 - 10.1080/14606925.2017.1323503

DO - 10.1080/14606925.2017.1323503

M3 - Journal article

VL - 20

SP - 435

EP - 457

JO - The Design Journal

JF - The Design Journal

SN - 1460-6925

IS - 4

ER -