Survey Report on the Employment of Graduates from Japan's Industry Design Department

Ye Qihua's translation

In April 1999, Japan’s industrial design promotion organization conducted a survey on the employment situation and trends of its domestic manufacturing industry (cars, information equipment, electronic devices, daily necessities, housing, etc.) from 51 companies. The company received positive reviews, including Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Mitsubishi Motor Corp. and Japan IBM Corp.

The expectations of employers for their designers are as follows:
1. Planning ability 30%
2. Modeling ability 25%
3. Thinking ability 20%
4. Coordinating ability 12%
5. Expressiveness/Expressiveness 8%
6. Computer operation ability, etc./CAD operating ability, etc. 5%

The economic recession has led to an increase in the unemployment rate over the past few years. This has also led to a reduction in the number of layoffs and downsizing within the industrial companies due to the recession. Therefore, the employment rate of the same new graduates is gradually decreasing. Under this circumstance, the design department also faced the same or even more serious dilemma. The graduates who studied and designed also seem to find that employment opportunities have become less and less.

About 20% of respondents (9 companies) in this survey indicated that the number of employees employed internally is increasing. Most other respondents stated that the number of employees they employ remains unchanged or is decreasing. In addition, 50% of respondents (19 companies) responded that they would not hire new staff during the current fiscal year, and 40% of the 19 companies (8 companies) said that they have not hired new people for several years. Now, this survey tells us that the design graduates also seem to face a more severe and hard working environment.

In spite of this, it is argued that the demand for designers’ perceptions and sensitivities of things within companies is increasing day by day. Because of the phenomenon of economic recession, some decision makers are more aware of the importance of design to the company. Therefore, some people think that in a company, designers are definitely not irrelevant people. In fact, this survey has discovered several industry expectations and issues for design education:
1. What kind of talent is the corporate design department looking for?
2. What kind of ability do they expect design graduates to have?

The survey results showed that when they interviewed the employees they were going to hire, the first focused on "planning ability and creativity" and then the second was "styling capability". However, we also found that a group of managers lamented the design of student model making and expression. The ability is getting worse and worse, "they don't have the basic ability to express themselves" (automotive industry), and "I have noticed that the drawing ability of sketches and performance charts has regressed significantly in recent years" (optical products manufacturing) and many more. These opinions include the modeling and the drawing of performance charts. They all belong to the modeling ability. It can be seen that the modeling ability is a main form of expression that makes the company unsatisfied or causes its sense of crisis. However, we found that in the survey they did not mention the company's most needed planning ability. Therefore, even if a specially-designed student has this talent, it will not be easily found, leading to this phenomenon. There are three:

First: Because in design education, more and more types of courses are being opened, and these courses have a large part of the elements of purely theoretical humanities disciplines, the opening of these courses is for design work. The development of concepts, the analysis of information, the adoption of thinking strategies, and so on, so that, on the one hand, the basic education of the educators, on the other hand, is similar to the ability to accurately express concepts. The training of plastic ability in design education is obviously not enough.

Second: Because of the over-reliance on computers and the emphasis placed on the computer's operating skills, many designers can only design on computers. “The new graduates are specialized in the operation of computers but are limited to basic design capabilities. With the freehand drawing ability (precision instrument manufacturing), there is no denying that many jobs in many design offices have been computerized, and university students are expected to complete their work by computer. However, when it comes to emphasizing computers, it must be noted that it is absolutely impossible to abandon the training to express ideas in a solid model, and it must not be because of the application of computers that designers become less sensitive and have a broader perspective. If a company wants to seek a theoretical or humanistic knowledge, such as information processing and conceptualization, it can find graduates from other departments. In fact, there are very few people in this category, and "graduates from other departments do not have the ability to design ("audio-visual equipment manufacturing industry"). In other words, the designer "should give priority to planning and thinking skills." However, if these capabilities are not supported by the expression of the concept of model competence, then the ability and contribution of this designer cannot be demonstrated to the company.

Is it possible that the company will seek a person who has a background in non-design background, but who has research on cognitive science and psychology but is competent in these tasks, and who knows the importance of design and can express the designer's ideas on the model?

It may be that some companies are looking for such talents, but basically they still expect the employees they employ to have some basic shaping ability and good aesthetic qualities, plus some computer skills. Perhaps it is not easy to balance these analysis and expression of dual knowledge and skills. We also wonder how many people will be able to take this into consideration. However, from an education point of view, contrary to this, they are focused on narrower scope. The training of specialized skills, as well as the expectations of companies for education and for the education sector, reflects the internal training pipeline and human resources training programs that have not yet been prepared.

Third: The most serious and important point is that the purpose of designing students is too shallow. When they applied for design school, they decided to become designers. They also accepted the training of design, but for the design, it was too late. Lack of enthusiasm and desire. Of course, this may involve personal factors, but in terms of education, the curriculum should not only teach future designers some skills, but should also cultivate their motivation, enthusiasm and desire for design and life, and cultivate them. Feelings and creativity.

Today's educational institutions do not seem to immediately reflect this rapidly changing design work environment. However, the purpose of designing education and schools is not to become a training center for corporate designers, so no matter how much it can meet the needs of the industry, it should Think about what education is appropriate for these talented future leaders. Perhaps the school not only provides teaching, it also provides a place for students to work together. In this turbulent world, education and design itself will become a turning point in the future of the world.