Drawings and the Development of Creativity and Form Language in Product Design Education – The Australian Council of University Art and Design Schools

This paper explores the role, typology and evolutionary aspects of drawings and related modelling tools in the design process, as a basis for the development of product form language and related semantics. Case studies, which utilise analogies based on biological and other forms to generate creative concepts, will be used to show how the design process, as used for designing an object, product, artefact or system, often starts with an informal visual language and finishes with a formal visual language so that the product use and esteem functions are properly described. This paper will trace and explain this development at a micro level so that this progression will be better understood from a didactic viewpoint and serve to remind educators and students about the nature and fundamental roles of drawing in the design process.

About the author

Dr. Elivio Bonollo PhD (Melb) is emeritus professor of industrial design, in the Faculty of Arts and Design, at the University of Canberra (UC). He was foundation professor of industrial design at UC (1997-2002) and a Pro Vice-Chancellor (1999-2001): earlier he was Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Design (1997-98). Elivio (Livio) was professor and director of the Centre for Industrial Design at Monash University (1989-96) and before this senior lecturer in charge of industrial design in the Faculty of Art at RMIT (1979-89). He is the founder of the industrial design discipline at Monash University and the principal author of the original industrial design degrees at RMIT (1982) and Monash University (1989). He is a PhD supervisor and currently a member of the Space, Place and Object Research Cluster.

Dr. Carlos Montana-Hoyos was born in Bogotá, Colombia. He graduated cum laude from an MAID and a PhD from Kobe Design University (Japan Scholarship). As a designer, Carlos has developed multidisciplinary projects related to concept, product, graphics, exhibition and urban design. Several of his projects have received diverse international design awards. As an academic, Carlos was an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Product Design Engineering course of EAFIT University in his country (2001-03). He was also a Fellow and Assistant Professor (2006-10) in the ID Program of the National University of Singapore. He is currently an Associate Professor in the ID course of the Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra. His main research is in Biomimicry and Design for Sustainability, and he recently published a book on these topics.