Abstract

Engaging with research is regarded as an essential part of design practice today by many experts. However, few academic studies have investigated research activities and attitudes within design professions. We conducted an online survey with 212 Australian communication design practitioners to understand how design research is valued and conducted. We found 90% of the respondents regarded engaging with research as ‘highly important’ or ‘extremely important’ for practising professionally. However, 76% indicated that the research activities they engaged in were ‘not at all’ or only ‘somewhat’ systematic. This suggests a mismatch between their positive attitudes and limited activities. We conclude that designers’ considerable appetite for research engagement and their frequent yet informal, unsystematic research activities present substantial opportunities for collaboration between design academics and practitioners.

摘要

参与研究被许多专家视为当今设计实践的重要组成部分。然而，很少有学术研究调查过设计专业的研究活动和态度。我们对 212 名澳大利亚传播设计从业者进行了一项在线调查，以了解如何评估和开展设计研究。我们发现 90% 的受访者认为参与研究对于专业实践来说“非常重要”或“极其重要”。然而，76% 的人表示他们从事的研究活动“根本没有”或只是“有点”系统的。这表明他们的积极态度与有限的活动不匹配。我们得出的结论是，设计师对研究参与的极大兴趣以及他们频繁但非正式、不系统的研究活动为设计学者和从业者之间的合作提供了大量机会。