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You don’t have to be an avid trend-watcher to note the increasing prominence of the design process in modern consumer culture. As Apple co-founder Steve Jobs put it, “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

West Virginia University is embracing this emerging trend with the creation of a major in Design Studies, offered by the Division of Design and Merchandising.

“Design thinking is becoming widely recognized as a third way of working and knowing that is uniquely applicable to the 21st century,” said Cindy Beacham, assistant professor of Interior Design and coordinator of the Design Studies program.

“Design Studies is based on the premise that our students will study design as well as other specialty areas in the form of a focused minor area of study,” said Beacham. Both design studies and the various specialty content areas should benefit from the alternative insights of these interdisciplinary students.

The offering of an interdisciplinary, non-studio design major by West Virginia University will be unique in the state and within the University. WVU offers majors in interior design as well as multi-disciplinary studies, but this major brings the two areas together to form a design-focused non-studio program that is flexible and student-centered.

Students take a core of design courses to learn and understand the design language. A minor is required to focus their area of study and provide a context for their design thinking. Finally, design related requirements and recommended electives are chosen to support the understanding of design in a variety of contexts.

Beacham outlined the new triad that it’s forming in higher education among the sciences, the humanities and design.

“Where science asks ‘what is’ and the humanities explore the quality of that human experience, design considers and creates ‘what should be’ for a changing tomorrow,” she explained.

The difference in approach is profound. Science is objective; the humanities are subjective; design is practical.

“The three approaches are equally important to human progress and equally powerful,” Beacham continued. “Applied across the University, the design approach has much to offer.”

For more information on the Design Studies major, contact Beacham 304-293-3471.