The Language of Design: Drawing on a Profound Resource

Abstract

Design education has made enormous strides in the past two decades. Many teachers and lecturers have sought to articulate the nature of the relationship that exists between the various components of designing activity. The wide scope of this activity today necessitates that the analysis is maintained. While bodies such as the Design Council and Sharing Experience in Engineering Design (SEED) have done much to present a formalisation of the process, there are serious gaps in our body of knowledge. One of these gaps concerns the role of drawing strategies in the design process and has inspired a current piece of research that received· the 1987 bursary jointly sponsored by the National Society for Education in Art and Design and Berol Ltd. This paper briefly presents this area of concern and focusses upon drawing as the essential language of design. It proposes that education seriously undervalues the potential of this profound resource.