Defining “Design Competencies”

Different institutions of design education have different terms for design competencies, and value them differently; however, they mirror each other. At OCAD University, they are defined as “the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to become a professional designer”.
OCAD considers sixteen design competencies to be most critical to professional design practice, organized into four categories:

Core

Understanding people, technology and business, and integrating this knowledge into a consistently used design process:

  • Design Process: Able to develop adaptable design methods
  • Understanding People: Able to develop insights from engagement with users
  • Understanding Business: Able to integrate business requirements into design process
  • Interaction Design: Able to shape behaviour and touchpoints between people and products, services and systems

Images

Expression through all forms of visual and oral communication:

  • Visualization Techniques: Use of drawing to make sense of requirements and three dimensionality of a design project
  • CAD Digital Visualization Techniques: Use of 2D/3D drawing software to render product details
  • Communication & Presentation: Able to use visual and verbal techniques to communicate effectively
  • Visual Thinking: Use of drawings/diagrams/charts to understand, analyze, and conceptualize

Objects

Ability to give shape and develop form by building a deep understanding of making:

  • Form Development: Creating meaningful and aesthetic forms via deep understanding of materials and how to integrate them
  • Fabrication Techniques: Able to safely use tools, fabrication processes to integrate into design process as needed
  • Digital Fabrication: Use of digital tools to develop and prototype interactive solutions
  • 3D Thinking: Iteratively making, sensing, testing and thinking to develop, understand and share tangible ideas

Thoughts

Use of interdisciplinary thinking, creativity techniques and future-thinking methods

  • Scope & Context: Ability to contextualize design projects within sociocultural issues
  • Thinking Typologies: Able to use and switch seamlessly between different discplines’ ways of thinking whenever required
  • Future Thinking: Able to identify design opportunities through trend analysis, adapt to changing circumstances within projects
  • Conceptual Thinking: Use of and ability to adapt creativity techniques to project specifics

Each of my projects highlighted in this portfolio site includes a breakdown of which competencies I developed, at what level (“Grasp”, “Use”, “Create” and “Master”), and at what stage in the design process this occurred.