Mindful interrogation: the changing role of design history

Knowledge economies possess a number of key characteristics that require designers to work and cope with the growing occurrence of unpredictable scenarios. A proficient understanding of new technologies and aesthetic principles are no longer appropriate skills with which to equip a designer. While they remain fundamental they offer neither the student nor industry the capacity to read and interpret change and to act within chaotic environments (Seltzer and Bentley, 1999; Friedman, 2000; Ivey, 2001).

To mindfully engage in an uncertain world student designers must develop critical thinking, social interaction and the ability to manifest design in a diversity of professional and industrial sectors. They need to develop the ability to equip themselves with the skill of sustaining and renewing knowledge throughout their careers. This demands that Design History extend its teaching beyond revealing the origins and nature of design to include skills of interrogation, which allow individuals to challenge existing and established theories and practices.