Ma Jin received her Bachelor and Master degree in Industrial Design from Tongji University, Shanghai, P.R.China. Upon her graduation in 2002, Ma Jin became a teaching assistant in the Art & Design Department at Tongji University, assisting and supervising undergraduate industrial design and transportation design studios. Since 2005 she has been working as a lecturer of Tongji. It is the teaching experience that arouses her interest in design thinking and design education issues. In 2007 Ma Jin joined the School of Design of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University as a PhD student investigating Chinese industrial design education. She anticipates completing her PhD research in 2010.

RESEARCH TITLE
How to improve conceptual design in senior BA product design studios in China?

NAME OF PhD ADVISORS
Asst Prof. Xiangyang XIN
Prof. Mingxi TANG
 

SHORT INTRODUCTION / DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH PROJECT
Ma Jin's research concern stems from design in the theoretical, educational, and Chinese social contexts. During the conceptualization process, design concepts are constantly shaped and reshaped by the criteria emerging from deeper contextual understanding. Concept development involves balancing creativity with logical analysis. Much tacit knowledge needs to be explored in order to contribute to the development of a meaningful concept, and this point is particularly important in terms of design education. Although design problems cannot be solved by scientific, strictly hierarchical approaches, methods and process are still important, because they support informed decision making, allow for more predictable outcomes, and support clear reflection and evaluation. The reflective conversation between design students and ill-defined and ill-structured design problems will benefit from certain explicit but flexible frameworks of process and method, which allow students to prepare themselves for real-world "wicked problems."

This research aims at being able to produce a process/method that can help students arrive at meaningful concepts with “controlled creativity”, to devise methods to build up criteria at different stages to evaluate concepts, to develop a more analytical and structural approach to interpreting research findings, and to apply design thinking to creativity making it more manageable and productive.

Most Chinese design schools at present are practical and skill-based. The importance of understanding the nature of design has not emerged. A proper understanding of “conceptual design” and its methods and processes with which to manage it will be a real contribution to Chinese design education.