Cultural Diversity in Design World

Jiwoo Seo
University of Kentucky

When you hear a word design what comes to your mind? When I hear a word design
I think of fashion designers though fashion designers are not the only designers in the world.
In order for design to happen there has to be some sort of idea that arise from an objects.
Those ideas are not necessarily restricted and limited but can constitute millions of things.
Anyone can create their own design by looking at flowers or just about anything. Then those
designs are applied to numerous subjects. From art to architecture they are all part of designs.
But not all people know that designers also work at an advertisement company or even at
furniture Company. In order to go in depth about a culture of design I have conducted two
interviews that will help us to understand the design culture.
Before going into details about the interviews that I conducted I have interviewed
two people and the first person that I interviewed was a professor Patrick Lucas who teaches
Design and Creativity class. The second person that I interviewed was a teachers assistance
of a class Design and Creativity taught by Professor Patrick Lucas. Lauren is a teachers
assistance and a sophomore this year majoring in interior design in architecture.
All of us have had some kind of incident that led us to go at where we are now. For
professor Lucas the incident that led to his career in history design came as a simple offer to
teach a class that needed a teacher. He was originally architecture major throughout his
undergraduate school but in his fifth and sixth year of majoring in architecture a doubt came
to his mind whether he really wanted to be an architect. This question made him to take a
break from school and starting working at a non-profit organization as an executive director.
While working as an executive director someone offered him whether he was interested in
teaching history in design class and he said yes. From then on he stayed with his job till this
day (personal communication September 24, 2014). For Lauren she had hard time deciding
what she wanted to major but by taking a class taught by professor Lucas really helped her to
go into interior design in architecture. Professor Lucas had big influence on her to determine

her major. Furthermore, the fact that her dad is an engineer having detail oriented character
and always thinking in new ways to solve a problem and her mom being very creative in
crafts that she did with Lauren influenced Lauren to enjoy arts, math and science. Those
factors eventually led Lauren to pursue her career in math, science and art related job, which
is interior design in architecture (personal communication September 24, 2014).
Not all people can do what they want to do if they dont have the skills that they need
for the jobs that they want. The skills that are necessary to pursue a study in design are
drawing skills. Perhaps drawing skill is the most important skills to acquire according to
Lauren. She said drawing skills include many different types of drawing free hand drawing
and orthographic projection drawings are just a couple types of drawing. Moreover, these
drawing have to be mastered before starting using a computer graphic (personal
communication September 24, 2014).
However, professor Lucas demands different set of skills since his job is more of
teaching design than actual hands on design. He mentioned the most important skill is the
social skill to be able to connect with students and get message across. Along with social skill,
a good verbal and writing skill is required to give speeches and write numerous reports
(personal communication September 24, 2014).
All people have different perspective of their own career world. Professor Lucas
describes his design world as eclectic. His view of design is a mixture of everything and
embraces the variety of objects; he does not see his design world as one specific style. In
philosophical perspective, he understands the world by looking at design. For instance, he can
tell and guess the type of style by looking at what people possess and carry (personal
communication September 24, 2014). Lauren explained her design world as every aspect of
life. Design is a significant factor in every single object throughout our lifetime. Design has
been around since millions of years ago in all history including ancient Rome, Greece and

Egypt. Theyve had their own drawings and symbols and those ancient designs are still
affecting todays design world. (personal communication, September 24, 2014).
What could have fascinated people to go into the field that they are in? Professor
Lucas was attracted to the questions that lie in things. What do consumers buy what they buy
what message does it give to consumers? Such curiosities led him to go further into his study
of history design (personal communication September 24, 2014). The reason that Lauren was
interested in design was because of her detail-oriented character. Interior design in
architecture demands very detailed work and that part of the skill attracted Lauren since she
already had those skills. In addition, the idea that people live in a place where she had
designed really fascinated her to go into the field. Besides being able to express ideas and
emotions through drawing in three-dimensional form fascinated her (personal communication
September 24, 2014).
Some may wonder what education is required to get a job in a design related field. It
depends on which design field you are in but if you are majoring design in architecture it
requires bachelors of art in architecture then two years of graduate school for masters degree.
After getting masters degree it requires internship hours working under the licensed architect
or some kind of licensed designer. The last step is to take a national license exam but it is
optional whether or not you take those license exams. Then you can work in a company
(personal communication September 24, 2014).
Professor Lucas does work in a design related career but his main job is teaching so it
differs little bit from Lauren. For his job the University requires professors to have a terminal
degree. For most part of studio-based designers, they get masters degree in fine arts but since
he was studying history design it required for him to get a PhD degree (personal
communication September 24, 2014).
Each and every subject has a stereotype. When I think of fashion designers I instantly

think of an image of their fancy clothes and unique styles that attracts peoples eyes but not
all fashion designers dress in colorful impressive way. Some really likes to dress splendid but
others dress in normal casual way and follow the norm. Design is not only related to fashion
but also related to numerous jobs. One can go into art director, animation/3D, architecture,
costume designer, furniture designer, fashion designer, graphic designer, illustration designer,
interior designer, multimedia designer, web designer, ceramics designer, exhibition designer,
glass designer, industrial designer, jewelry designer, make-up artist, production designer,
book designer, advertising designer, environmental designer and textile designer. Those are
some of the related field in design but there are a lot more to it.
Design consists of various branches not just one. It also contains variety of working
conditions as well. Hearing from first hand experienced design related professor and a student
gave us the idea that one could go into countless careers and it never gets boring. Always new
and refreshing ideas evolve from some designers, others may enjoy working in an office and
the rest may love to work outside.