Students’ Cognitive and Emotional Development during the Transition from High School to Design School

Abstract

This qualitative study examines both the cognitive and emotional development of design students as they transition from high school to the first year of design school. The study investigates this through the lenses of multiple constituents, including design school undergraduates, educators, directors, scholars, and current program structures. This study also considers the future of design education and what kind of experience might best prepare students for their transition into design school. Through a literature review, interviews, focus groups, survey, and the evolving industry, the transitional experience is contextualized. This study aims to provide both pre-college and undergraduate programs, educators, and directors with information for how they can improve their students' transition into undergraduate design programs.

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The International Journal of
Design Education
DES IGNPRINC IPL ESA NDPRACTICES.COM
VOLUME 14 ISSUE 4__________________________________________________________________________
Students’ Cognitive and Emotional Development during the Transition from High School to Design SchoolSTEVEN FAERM
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THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
OF DESIGN EDUCATION
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The International Journal of Design Education
Volume 14, Issue 4, 2020, https://designprinciplesandpractices.com
© Common Ground Research Networks, Steven Faerm, All Rights Reserved.
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ISSN: 2325-128X (Print), ISSN: 2325-1298 (Online)
https://doi.org/10.18848/2325-128X/CGP/v14i04/61-78 (Article)
Students’ Cognitive and Emotional
Development during the Transition from
High School to Design School
Steven Faerm,1 Parsons School of Design, USA
Abstract: This qualitative study examines both the cognitive and emotional development of design students as they
transition from high school to the first year of design school. The study investigates this through the lenses of multiple
constituents, including design school undergraduates, educators, directors, scholars, and current program structures.
This study also considers the future of design education and what kind of experience might best prepare students for
their transition into design school. Through a literature review, interviews, focus groups, survey, and the evolving
industry, the transitional experience is contextualized. This study aims to provide both pre-college and undergraduate
programs, educators, and directors with information for how they can improve their students’ transition into
undergraduate design programs.
.
Keywords: Design Education, Design Pedagogy, Student Development, Pedagogy,
Teaching and Learning, Higher Education
Introduction
I never knew it would be so different, so difficult, and so memorable.
–Anonymous, Design Student Survey
esign school students often feel a disconnection between their high school and
undergraduate experiences during their freshman year of college/university as a result
of the discordant academic emphases between the two levels of education. The majority
of US design schools are developing new academic practices that respond to a new set of
knowledge and skillsets demanded by the globalized design industries (Darling-Hammond
2010): design professionals are being sought for their abilities to create innovative products,
rethink business systems, and understand broader contexts through interdisciplinary practices
(Marshall 2008; Muratovski 2010). To provide students with these skillsets, design schools are
increasingly shifting their curricula emphases from technical and tactical skills to those that
prioritize the development of students’ conceptual and speculative thinking, understanding of
research methodologies, design processes, and interdisciplinary practices. Despite this evolution
occurring across US design higher education, the nation’s pre-college art/design education has
remained unchanged for decades; curricula remains focused on honing students’ vocational and
technical skills—such as drawing perspective, craftsmanship, and digital aptitudes—rather than
introducing and developing the aforementioned skillsets prioritized in design schools and
sought by design industries.
These discordant academic foci prevent many first-year design students from having a
smooth, fluid cognitive and emotional transition from high school to design school because they
must leap across the ever-widening chasm between the two contrasting educational
environments with little guidance. Additionally, the deeply rooted beliefs and attitudes towards
design education and practice these students developed and nurtured throughout their formative
years of pre-college studies must now yield to new—and, at times, radically different—beliefs,
methodologies, and emphases. The associated cognitive and emotional demands can be
1 Corresponding Author: Steven Faerm, 66 5th Avenue, Parsons School of Design, The New School University, New
York, NY, 10019, USA. email: faerms@newschool.edu
D
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THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DESIGN EDUCATION
destabilizing because students’ ways of existing within and understanding the world around
them are upset by the foisting of new mindsets, creative processes, and assessment criteria for
what constitutes “successful” design work. As a result, most first-year design students undergo
multiple crises during which they question their personal identities, academic competencies,
career choices, and life goals. These challenges and associated struggles can undermine
students’ potential for academic and personal success.
What challenges do undergraduates experience during their first year of design school?
How can high schools better prepare students for the transition from high school to design
school? How can design schools provide a smoother emotional and academic transition for
undergraduates during their first year of design studies? What pedagogical structures and
support systems at both levels will contribute to a more fluid transition into design school?
There is an absence of research literature that examines students’ transition from high
school into the first year of design school. This study aims to fill that gap by providing
secondary and tertiary design programs, school leadership, teachers, and advisors with
important information for how they can improve their students’ transition into the first year of
design school. This study has implications for actions that these critical participants can take to
improve students’ transitional experiences and potential for academic and personal success.
This study contributes to the nascent body of research relating to art/design education, academic
program design, students’ preparation for college, the learning and teaching of art/design in
grades 9 through 16, and young adult development in the context of design education.
Background Literature
Design Practices in the Twenty-first Century
The steady advancements of globalization and technology during the twenty-first century—and
their impact on the design industries—is unprecedented. How we conduct business, how we
communicate, how we form relationships, and ultimately how we all live has been drastically
reshaped by technology (Friedman 2005). These new contexts have enabled business practices
to engage in a broader international marketplace through production and distribution processes
that were previously inaccessible.
The accelerated technological advances and expanded access to the global marketplace
have given designers a seemingly unlimited platform for producing their goods globally. The
subsequent search for less expensive production facilities has destabilized traditional centers of
production—particularly in apparel manufacturing. For instance, as late as 1965, 95 percent of
American clothing was made in the US; however, this dropped to just 5 percent by 2009 (Levin
2009). The exodus of apparel manufacturing from the US to less expensive facilities overseas
exemplifies the “outsourcing” of the US economy. For the American apparel industry,
globalization eliminated certain kinds of work altogether (Pink 2005), thus requiring designers
to shift emphasis in the emergent “knowledge-based economy,” where innovation and creativity
are critical for sustaining success.
The meteoric attention to and demand for “high design” that began in the early 2000s led to
an array of cultural phenomena. For instance, the television show Project Runway has aired
nearly twenty-five versions globally, and the retrospective of fashion designer Alexander
McQueen held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was one of the top three shows in the
museum’s 150-year history, attracting 661,409 visitors in just three months (Freeman 2011).
These cases highlight mass audiences’ increased attention given to “high design”—a disposition
that is no longer limited to the elite (Postrel 2003).
The growing cultural obsession with design has contributed to escalating rates of
consumption and production. Consumers now demand roughly four-times the number of
garments they did in 1980 (Leonard 2010). The sharp incline of consumption is further
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evidenced by the household final consumption expenditure—the market value of all goods and
services purchased by households—that has grown from $1.7 trillion U.S. in 1970 to $43.9
trillion USD in 2016 (Index Mundi n.d.). To meet consumers’ insatiable demands, retailers
produce massive quantities of apparel. For example, Zara produces 12,000 styles each year
while Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) sells more than 500 million items every year from more than
5,000 stores worldwide (Siegel 2011; Leonard 2010; Statista 2019a). These and other “fast-
fashion” retailers restock sales floors with new collections every two weeks (Leonard 2010),
thus contributing to an overabundant marketplace in which consumers’ material needs are not
just being met but are being surpassed.
To stand out in this overabundant marketplace, designers must differentiate their goods in
ways that surpass mere aesthetic appeal. Consumers’ engagement with design is no longer
driven by need but rather by the desire for emotional fulfillment gained through obtaining an
object of the designer’s narrative and design processes (Faerm 2016). The designer’s new role is
closely aligned with the twenty-first century’s knowledge-based economy; designers must
maintain technical proficiency while mastering social science research methodologies. These
combined skills will enable designers to discover consumers’ emotional needs, hone their
conceptual thinking and brand narratives that strategically provide emotional fulfillment, and
advance design thinking that fosters interdisciplinary practices, innovative design processes,
and meaningful design. The ideal designer, increasingly sought by industry, is not merely the
vocational master who dictates personal taste but a conceptualist who utilizes well-researched
methodologies when approaching the design process, thus creating more meaningful and
enduring design (Palomo-Lovinski and Faerm 2009; Faerm 2016).
Design Education: The Widening Gap between the College and Pre-College Levels
US design higher education is responding to knowledge-based economies’ and industries’
demands for college graduates who are able to innovate around existing products and/or
outdated systems (Darling-Hammond 2010) by replacing their long-held vocational, skills-
oriented undergraduate curricula rooted in Bauhaus ideologies (learning by making) with those
that prioritize design thinking over practical skills across all four years of study.
Beginning in the first year of design school, fundamental design skills, such as drawing and
prototyping, are co-taught with skills that promote design thinking; these include research
methodologies, conceptualization, ethics, empathy, philosophy, sustainability, and global issues.
Interdisciplinary practices are also encouraged so that information between traditionally
“siloed” design and academic disciplines may merge and stimulate creativity for innovation
(Negroponte 2003; Marshall 2008). For instance, design assignments might require students to
collect ethnographic research, followed by developing design iteration grounded in an empathic
understanding of the user’s psychographic profile. Students will also learn to conceptualize
systems for eco-friendly production/distribution and/or create multi-purpose apparel for
transient communities. College-level design curricula underscore the interconnectivity design
plays in the world so that students “understand the socio-cultural, political, and commercial
implications that design can have in society” (Muratovski 2010, 385) and become not merely
suppliers of aesthetically pleasing, functional artifacts, but innovators and social entrepreneurs.
Despite this shift occurring in US design higher education, the nation’s approach to pre-
college design education has remained unchanged for decades. Curricula typically prioritize the
development of students’ vocational and technical skills rather than cultivating the design-
thinking skillsets prioritized and required by design schools. Courses such as “Foundations of
Art,” “Portraits,” “Digital Design 2,” or “Woodworking” offer rudimentary overviews of
composition, perspective, color application, and craft. Consequently, syllabi frequently contain
highly prescribed assignments that emphasize drawing from observation, realistic
representation, and a uniform approach to interpretation, conceptualization, and innovation
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THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DESIGN EDUCATION
(McKenna 2011). For developing art/design students this narrow, highly directed approach can
be alienating since it does not support the dispositions of creative thinkers, such as taking risks,
being open and flexible, engaging in exploration and play, and understanding different
viewpoints. Because pre-college curricula have been unresponsive to advances in design higher
education and industry, it poorly prepares students’ transition into the conceptual world of the
design school.
Young Adult Development and the Transition into Design School
To understand the transition into the first year of design school experienced by undergraduates,
the general characteristics of young adulthood must be examined. What challenges, hopes,
beliefs, and needs do young adults have, and how are these influenced by this transitional
period?
Despite the fact that a transitional period experienced by many high school graduates as
they enter all types of colleges has become normative in today’s American culture, there has
been relatively little research undertaken investigating the development of the 18- to 25-year
old, when “emerging adulthood” is commonly marked (Arnett 2000). The first scholarly
conference discussing this age demographic was held in 2003 (Arnett 2004). More recently,
there has been a surge of non-scholarly publications that aim to support students during their
transition into college; these typically focus on practical considerations such as management
strategies for academic workload and personal finances rather than the challenging psychosocial
transition into college. Moreover, there is currently no published scholarship that examines this
topic in the context of design student development. Thus, the paucity of scholarship that
addresses this critical aspect of young adult development—particularly in the context of design
higher education—prevents a full understanding of, and subsequent support for, students as they
transition into their first year of design school.
For emerging adults, the transition from adolescence to adulthood does not simply consist
of biological changes but also social and cultural; studies show the top three criteria for
adulthood are accepting responsibilities for oneself, making independent decisions, and
becoming financially independent (Arnett 2004). This period for students is also a pivotal stage
for developing one’s identity through exploration, engagement with life offerings, and “free role
experimentation” so that more enduring decisions may emerge (Erikson 1968). For most
individuals, this period preceding the long-term commitments of adulthood is an exciting
opportunity to discover and transform themselves.
To clarify their identities, emerging adults seek autonomy, become more self-reliant, and
set aside childhood fantasies by adopting a lifestyle that is more realistic (Marcia 1980). This
extended period is also one of instability as these young adults move from a dependent
adolescence into the almost entirely self-focused and self-directed lifestyle of adulthood (Arnett
2004; Marcia 1980). To achieve optimal development, the individual must self-construct this
identity in a positive way. Marcia (1980, 159) notes:
[I]dentity is a self-structure—an internal self-constructed collection of drives, beliefs
and individual history. The better developed the identity is, the more aware one is of
their own uniqueness and similarity to others, along with their own strengths and
weaknesses. If one’s identity is weak or underdeveloped, the more confused the
individual is and likely to rely on external sources for self-evaluation.
The process of self-forming one’s adult identity can be highly unstable and painful for the
individual because it requires changing the way of functioning in the world, questioning values,
and altering habits (Evans et al. 2010). Moreover, the independence required during this process
poses heightened challenges for today’s “Generation Z” (those born between 1995-2012) since
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they are prolonging adolescence and entering adulthood more slowly (Twenge 2017) by
engaging much later in life activities that commonly mark the entry into adulthood. For
example, since the mid-1990s, there has been a steady decline of high school seniors who have
a driver’s license (down 14%), who go on dates, (down 36%), and who work for pay (down
30%) (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Percentage of 12th Graders Who Have a Drivers’ License,
Have Ever Tried Alcohol, Who Ever Go on Dates, and
Who Worked for Pay at All During the School Year.
Source: Twenge and Park 2019
For this population, the entire developmental trajectory, from childhood to adolescence to
adulthood, has shifted forward.
These formative years can be especially unstable and emotional for students transitioning
into the college lifestyle. Common challenges include moving away from home, living among
strangers, meeting higher academic expectations, and managing personal finances. These
stressors are intensified by factors that were absent just a few decades ago, such as the
exorbitant 157 percent increase in tuition fees at private colleges over the past twenty years
(Boyington 2018) and the average student loan debt of over $35,000 USD (Stolba 2019). As a
result, 70 to 80 percent of all US undergraduates work while enrolled in college, with 40
percent working at least thirty hours per week (Carnevale et al. 2015). The dramatic spike of
students choosing to enroll in college since 2000 (44%) (Statista 2019b) creates greater
competition among undergraduates for academic opportunities (such as scholarships). Design
schools have experienced particularly steep enrollment growth; for example, enrollment in
Parsons School of Design’s undergraduate Fashion Design Program grew 130 percent in just ten
years (2008–2018) (Towers 2019). For these students, peer-to-peer competition for
opportunities and job placement is more challenging than ever before.
These and other factors are affecting undergraduates’ emotional health nationwide. In the
past decade, the American College Health Association’s annual surveys (2009, 2018) reveal
stark increases in undergraduates reporting “feeling overwhelming anxiety” (27%), depression
that made it difficult to function (35%), seriously considering suicide (77%), and attempting
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suicide (46%). The report also illuminated the increases of undergraduates being diagnosed or
treated by professionals (within the past twelve months) for anxiety (112%), depression (70%),
and panic attacks (116%). The ensuing nationwide emotional health crisis is evidenced by the
sharp rise of students seeking assistance: those seeking mental health support increased 30
percent between 2009–10 and 2014–15, even though student enrollment grew by only 5 percent
during that time (Winerman 2017). In fact, in 2016, for the first time ever, the majority of
entering college students described their mental health as “below average” (Twenge 2017;
Eagan et al. 2017). For some undergraduates, the transition into the college lifestyle is too
difficult: one-third of undergraduates drop out before sophomore year, only 41 percent complete
their bachelor’s degree in four years, and just 60 percent who enroll in college will graduate in
six years (Stixrud and Johnson 2018; U.S. Department of Education 2019).
Data and Methodology
To research the transitional experience, several qualitative and quantitative research methods
were employed. These methods were chosen for their abilities to ascertain both the dominant
discourse and the unique personal narratives from a diverse group of design students, alumni,
and teachers, thus establishing a more meaningful contextualization and understanding of the
transitional experience.
Data were first collected through an online survey that was sent to over 250 undergraduates
and alumni of Parsons School of Design. The survey contained multiple-choice and open-
response questions that gathered information about the participants’ pre-college and college
experiences, including such things as pre-college preparation, academic and emotional
transition into freshman year, coursework in both secondary and tertiary art/design education,
and the academic and professional experiences that proceeded their freshman year.
This data was analyzed, and the findings informed questionnaires used during two
subsequent focus groups. The first group contained five professional fashion designers who
were Parsons’ alumni (graduating between the years of 2008 and 2014). They were chosen for
their diverse enrollment periods, international and ethnic backgrounds, career goals and
pursuits, and pre-college experiences. The second focus group contained five senior-year
undergraduates in the Apparel Design Program at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). They
were selected for similar reasons. Following these groups, three of the students from RISD were
selected for individual ninety-minute interviews, during which they were asked to elaborate on
their pre-college, transitional, and freshman-year experiences.
Theoretical Framework
This study draws on the theoretical framework of William Perry’s (1970) Theory of Intellectual
and Ethical Development. The developed scheme, based on Perry’s studies of undergraduates,
is a sequential continuum that describes how college students view the nature of knowledge and
the process of learning. The scheme consists of the four states of students’ experience, namely
dualism, multiplicity, relativism, and commitment. These four states include:
1. Dualism. Students view knowledge in concrete and dichotomous terms such as
good/bad and right/wrong. Learning is an information exchange because knowledge is
seen as facts given by authorities (teachers) who possess the “correct” answers.
Students view their role as one who must memorize correct answers and deliver them
back accurately. They view every problem as solvable, yet often defer to authorities for
the solution or answer.
2. Multiplicity. Students move into this second stage when cognitive dissonance occurs
(e.g., when experts disagree, or the teacher does not have the answers). Students honor
diverse views when the right answer is not yet known. All opinions are valid, there are
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conflicting answers, and peers become more legitimate sources of knowledge. Students
learn how to find the right answer, think more independently, and begin to construct
analytical thought processes. Although students still seek the right answers, they put
more trust in their “inner voice” rather than automatically deferring to authority for the
solution.
3. Relativism. The move into this third stage occurs when the student recognizes the
need to support opinions through reasoning methods and logical analysis. All opinions
no longer appear equally valid, and the use of evidence and argument allows the
student to evaluate the validity of different viewpoints. Knowledge and solutions are
defined more contextually and qualitatively. In this stage, students question their own
viewpoints as well as their teachers’, who are valued experts, but whose opinions are
open to scrutiny.
4. Commitment in Relativism. The final stage involves the integration of knowledge
learned from others with personal experiences and reflection to arrive at conclusions.
These conclusions (and subsequent commitments) in areas such as politics, careers,
and relationships are made by recognizing intrapersonal diversity of goals, interests,
and needs. As such, this stage can be viewed as initiating ethical development made
from the vantage point of relativism rather than increasing cognitive complexity
(Evans et al. 2010). Additionally, there is an acceptance of uncertainty and the
tentative nature of life. Students place value on their ongoing development and an
openness to new experiences.
Undergraduates typically move through some or all of these positions during the college
years, though some may “stall” or “retreat” during the progression if they experience a lack of
confidence or feel overwhelmed. In these scenarios, challenging the student’s current thinking
while offering support that encourages risk-taking and lessens the likelihood of retreating can
promote successful advancement from one position to another (King 1978).
Findings and Interpretations
In order to describe best the ways in which the students in this study experienced the
transitional experience, I present my findings below in several sections. First, I describe the
students’ pre-college experiences, highlighting their academic preparation and abilities to
overcome adversity. Next, I describe several ways academic experiences differ in secondary
and tertiary art/design education, thus creating a curricular gap between secondary and tertiary
design education. Significant dissimilarities emerged between the curricula that consequently
caused considerable challenges for students. I describe these challenges, highlighting the
participants’ attitudes towards their transitional experiences, the design school community,
support systems, and how their identities evolved during freshman year. In the following
section, I pay particular attention to describing the students’ cognitive and emotional
development through the aforementioned data and theoretical framework. Finally, I offer
recommendations that both high schools and design schools can take to better prepare and
support their design students.
Pre-College Experiences
Data about the pre-college experience figured prominently in participants’ responses.
Participants were asked to describe their pre-college art/design studies (if any), the levels and
types of mentorship and support received, and aspects of the pre-college experience that were
most/least helpful for the transition into design school. Common narratives about the pre-
college experience emerged from the data.
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Nearly all participants (95%) (n = 84) studied art/design before entering design school. The
majority of these (75%) enrolled in coursework offered by their high schools and almost half
(42%) participated in external pre-college programs. The quantity and types of high school
courses were described as limited and assigned rudimentary “textbook-ish craft projects” that
did not expose students to diverse media. Participants widely believed enrollment in external
pre-college programs was essential for developing knowledge and skills across the diverse types
of media sought by selective design schools. One student summarized this necessity by stating
“there is no way you’ll be accepted into [design] school unless you take courses outside of your
high school.” The participants’ deep commitment to developing their skillsets for design school
was further suggested by the notable percentage (30%) who studied art/design on their own. As
one student shared, “I was working a lot on my own, late at night. I’d wait until my parents
went to bed and I’d go into my bathroom, and that would become my studio. I’d stay up until
1:00 or 2:00 a.m. painting, just to create something, to train my eye and skills [and] build a
twelve-image portfolio to send off to schools.”
The participants’ formidable desire to enter design school was further underscored by their
narratives about overcoming adversity; notably, the discouragement and inadequate support
from school advisors and parents. School advisors commonly offered little (if any) support and,
at times, became impediments for the students’ aspirations. One student asserted her advisor
“actively discouraged me from pursuing art in a serious way” because—as routinely described
by other participants—art/design was widely considered a “hobby” and not a viable career by
both advisors and parents. Instead, these students were encouraged to pursue more conventional
professions at traditional colleges: “I was told by a guidance counselor…women choose to
major in art to get their ‘Mrs. Degree.’ [He] though because I had good S.A.T. scores, I should
choose a ‘normal’ university and a different career/major path.” Similarly, respondents
frequently described their advisors’ and parents’ misperceptions about the design professions
that further decreased support.
For many students, the lack of emotional and practical support caused them to feel alone
and as if they had to “fend for themselves” throughout the pre-college experience—particularly
when they applied to design schools, largely because their advisors and parents were befuddled
by the unique application process and institution/program types. As one participant stated, “I
informed [my advisor] of my interest in design, and the only thing she did for me was pull out a
book of universities that I should consider. All of my pre-college preparation was the result of
the efforts of myself.” In fact, when asked to choose what aspects of their high school
experience were least helpful for their transition into freshman year, more than one-third of
respondents (38%) cited their advisors, and one in five (20%) cited their parents (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Graph Displaying Those Areas Students Felt Were Least Hel pful
in the Transition Between High School and Design School
Source: Faerm 2019
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In contrast, art/design teachers provided critical support throughout students’ pre-college
experiences; one wrote, “my art teacher gave me the confidence I needed to know I was
talented, driven, and made me realize I could be successful doing something I love.” Similarly,
peers supplied beneficial practical and emotional support through information about design
schools, portfolio development, art/design careers, and more.
Data analysis revealed an interesting dichotomy in students’ responses to this type of stress
during secondary education. First, for students who needed to overcome challenging
circumstances to attend design school (e.g., a lack of parental support), an added stressor
developed on top of those commonly experienced by undergraduates: the need to prove
themselves and to over-succeed, thereby justifying the validity of their academic/professional
goals to themselves and others. As one described, “[m]y parents were on the fence about
spending so much money on design school, so I felt like it was a decision I had to truly want
and fight for. This maybe helped me because I knew it was a big choice that I was making for
myself, and I had to perform.” Second, although discouragement and other impediments were
challenging for many respondents, several expressed that these adversities ultimately
strengthened their holistic development because, as one student expressed, “it taught me that I
had to be independent if I was going to pursue a career in design. And, in design school, you
have to be self-motivated [to succeed]!” The students’ increased independence boosted their
confidence and subsequently their self-directedness.
The Curricular Gap between Secondary and Tertiary Design Education
Data analysis revealed stark contrasts between secondary and tertiary design curricula,
including course assignments, learning goals, assessment criteria, and pedagogy. Data also
illuminated students’ perspectives on their academic experiences, the two distinct curricula, and
specific areas that were most challenging for them during their transition. These challenges
include the contrasting academic emphases, the shift to extreme focus of study, and the rigorous
college-level critique system.
Pre-college art/design curricula were frequently described by participants as “basic,”
“lacking depth,” and containing “rudimentary” assignments that “[do] not seem to follow any
logical curriculum or development”; as one student elaborated, “The design classes in high
school were very superficial, meaning we drew and learned about [design] but there was no real
artistic connection between the subject’s art and technique.” Others described “straight-forward
assignments” that required them to “translate what you CAN see before you” within highly
prescribed parameters. Thus, the curricula’s learning goal was building students’ technical
proficiency through accurate/realistic representation rather than through their creativity and/or
personal expression.
The consequential artistic uniformity among students led participants to comment on the
lack of individual creative processes, as “[the students] all just did the same thing.” This caused
many to feel grossly underprepared for the advanced expectations of creativity demanded by
design schools; one wrote, “my high school did not prepare me to be creative [for design
school]. Most if not all assignments were not open ended, and the ones that were still did not
encourage out-of-the-box thinking.” More specifically, typical pre-college curricula failed to
teach and nurture students’ conceptual thinking—a primary emphasis in design higher
education. When participants were asked if their pre-college art/design courses taught
conceptual thinking, a staggeringly low percentage (17%) selected “yes” while half (50%)
selected “none at all” or “only a little” (Figure 3).
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Figure 3: Graph Displaying Number of Students Who Report Being Taught
Conceptual Thinking in Pre-College Art/Design Courses
Source: Faerm 2019
The curricular gap was widely criticized by respondents, with one stating, “it really felt like
starting this life from scratch. In high school, [art/design] class was all about learning
techniques, but [design school] is where I learned what a concept is and how to develop it
onward.” This pronounced curricular gap caused many students to feel overwhelmed and
frustrated when they were suddenly thrown into “the conceptual deep end” the moment they
entered design school. One respondent, reflecting on his first assignment in design school,
stated:
[W]e had a class where we had to do a lot of conceptual thinking. Really intense
theory-thinking and that’s when I felt everything was so overwhelming. [The first
assignment] was: “How do you measure time?” I was stumped with that! That was one
of the first times I was really overwhelmed…and freaked out just because each week
I’d go to class and continue hitting a wall, and my teacher would see it and bring it up.
They’re just like, “Oh, I see you’re really struggling with this.” But…you get to that
point where you’re like, “I have no idea where to go with this.” (Anonymous
Interview, Faerm 2018)
Another summarized the obstacles as follow: “the greatest challenge [of freshman year]
was not knowing what a concept was. I had no idea how to approach all of the assignments on a
mental level.” In fact, a surprisingly low percentage (60%) of respondents reported their high
school art/design courses as “most helpful” in preparation for design school. Conversely, 20
percent of respondents reported their high school art/design courses were “least helpful” (Figure
2). Furthermore, nearly 50 percent selected “learning new art/design coursework/subjects” as
one of the most challenging aspects of the transitional experience. These findings underscore
the significant curricular gap between the two design curricula and, consequently, the
inadequate preparation students receive for design school.
For many design students, their inexperience with conceptual thinking often creates stress
that is unique to design students. Unlike typical undergraduates, the design students’
inexperience with conceptual design thinking—and the subsequent need to master the subject
rapidly during a condensed amount of time in the first year—means students had to devote
additional hours to their already high academic workloads in order to compensate for this
inexperience. This accelerated “crunch period” exacerbated their mental, physical, and
emotional stress. The data revealed the narrowness of focus in their studies in design—unlike
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pre-college coursework that spanned multiple subjects/disciplines—created a difficult period of
adjustment and exacerbated any existing psychological or emotional challenges. Participants
shed light on the experience by noting, “I realized that creative thinking…could actually be
more stressful than working on essays or studying for math tests” and, “It was exhausting being
creative 24/7 for five different classes all focused on creating art/design. It took a toll on me
emotionally.”
The emphasis on conceptual thinking in design school also disrupted and shifted students’
previously established values, mindsets, and practices. Their beliefs about what constitutes
“successful” work, instilled throughout their formative years of pre-college art/design studies,
were supplemented with—and at times, entirely replaced by—new ways of valuing success that
are taught in design school. Similarly, once at design school, students were subject to new
grading rubrics and assessment criteria (e.g., contextualized research, conceptualization, etc.)
that required them to self-develop new approaches to the design process itself. This typically
involved a “trial-and-error” approach that led to significant emotional strain. As one participant
stated:
I had no idea how to approach [the assignment] or what to do! So, instead of executing
it as well as I could have, instead of taking most of the time to make something
perfectly, which I would have done before [in high school], I now spent more time
thinking about it. Most of the time it was 75% thinking. Like, “What do I do?
Research? Develop a concept? How do I even apply a concept to design?” And the
next 25% was just making it. Before [design school], it would have been the other way
around! [It’s a] switch and, at first, not a comfortable one. (Anonymous Interview,
Faerm 2018)
Additionally, the college-level critique culture, which emphasizes conceptualization,
proved to be entirely foreign to many first-year students. While numerous respondents
described pre-college-level critiques as lacking depth and meaningful criticism, college-level
critiques were said to be a “culture shock,” owing to the new conceptual emphasis, along with
their depth and rigor. Respondents reported that a dramatic shift happens when a student is
tossed into the design school’s “conceptual deep end.” This shift caused significant increase in
cognitive and emotional stressors for respondents. For many, the accompanying shock led
participants to describe critiques as “intense,” “terrifying,” and “spiteful,” and to note,
“[n]othing prepared me for the harsh critiques of freshman year.” Moreover, the expectation
that undergraduates defend their work during critiques was especially difficult for those who
were inexperienced yet expected to quickly master the skill. In fact, respondents routinely cited
studio critiques as one of the biggest challenges during freshman year. One expressed, “it’s not
just about making. You also have to be able to talk about it conceptually. That’s what I had the
hardest time with.” When asked how pre-college art/design programs could improve, many
participants stated pre-college programs should require students to present their work in
similarly structured critique formats where they can become comfortable with public speaking
well before entering design school studios.
Design Students’ Cognitive and Emotional Development during the First Year
Findings revealed a diversity of increased cognitive and emotional development that occurred in
participants during (and shortly after) their first year of design school. The common challenges
associated with the adjustment to the undergraduate lifestyle—being homesick, making new
friends, finding a healthy work-life balance, and simply taking care of oneself—were frequently
repeated by participants. For some, additional emotional challenges arose due to the disparity
between the widespread assertion that the college years are the best of one’s life and the actual
college experience; as one student poignantly described:
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In television and movies [the college life] is praised. It’s supposed to be the best four
years of your life. [But] your parents drop you off…and you’re like a lost puppy. You
have no idea what you got yourself into and every day is [an emotional] struggle.
(Anonymous Interview, Faerm 2018)
Others, sharing similar sentiments, questioned why their pre-college preparation focused almost
exclusively on practical topics (e.g., “how to overcome procrastination”) rather than addressing
the pervasive emotional challenges (e.g., “how to overcome homesickness”).
However, for most respondents, the design school lifestyle—particularly the move away
from home—was a welcomed change. Participants who self-described as marginalized
“outcasts” coming from homogenous hometowns, suddenly experienced numerous
heterogeneous communities full of accepting peers who nurtured each other’s personal growth.
In fact, 38 percent felt “making friends” was the least challenging aspect of the transition into
design school because they were excited by “meeting other artistically-minded people.” and
“finally not being a weirdo! Design school helped me find my tribe I still align with today.”
Students’ cognitive development benefited greatly from these friendships and associated events
that built trust with others: the resulting increases in support and trust led them to value their
peers’ suggestions and thus move beyond dualism (in which the teacher is the sole provider of
knowledge) into multiplicity (in which peers become more legitimate sources of knowledge).
Along with support, peers also created competition. For example, the participants who were
the “star artists” in their high schools entered prestigious design schools with countless other
“star” classmates, all vying for the recognition and success that had come so easily to them in
high school. Their abrupt confrontation with the fact that they were now “small fish in big
ponds” destabilized many students’ identities during the first year and led them to reconsider
their talent, goals, and professional potential.
Compounding this crisis of identity, respondents also frequently described feeling isolated
when experiencing “imposter syndrome” throughout their first year. In fact, many noted their
freshman year—of all their design school years—contained the highest level of self-doubt. In
extreme circumstances, students changed majors or quit design school altogether. Yet, for
others, the new extreme competition positively impacted them; it intensified their desire to
prove themselves and to succeed, often resulting in an elevation of their academic performance.
At the same time, participants noted the culture of extreme competition was one in which they
felt pressured to over-perform. As one respondent summarized:
I felt this pressure and this widespread understanding that to be successful and make
good [projects] you had to pull all-nighters because it’s almost like a rite of passage in
a way. It’s weird. Freshman year, I would brag to everyone, “I was up ‘til 4:00 last
night working on a project.” And you almost want praise, like, “Gosh, you were up so
late!” For you, it’s a kind of validation. [I]t’s interesting that culture [permeates] your
first year of college. (Anonymous Interview, Faerm 2018)
The students’ need for extrinsic validation also affected how they perceived their roles as
learners. During freshman year, many respondents displayed clear dualistic traits, including
focusing on pleasing teachers rather than themselves and avoiding “wrong” answers. However,
data strongly suggests numerous participants advanced from this duality stage on to the
multiplicity stage immediately following their first year. One student illustrates this shifting
mindset when noting:
[Initially,] I worked so hard to please my teachers but not myself. [C]oming from [high
school], it’s still all about grades. I was still in that zone even though I said I didn’t
care about grades. But I feel I was on the verge of figuring it out, like, this is really for
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me. After freshman year, I was finally in the mindset of “I should do what I want to do
whether or not it pleases someone else.” (Anonymous Interview, Faerm 2018)
Another participant, echoing this shift from dualism to multiplicity during freshman year,
believed it occurred as a direct result of being told by others to make her own decisions, rather
than being given answers. While she felt the process was uncomfortable and that missteps
occurred, her advancement to multiplicity strengthened her confidence, identity, and purpose as
a learner. As she shared, “toward the end of [freshman] year, I finally realized that it is my
work, it is my time put into it, and my thoughts, ideas, and dreams. I need to worry about
making myself happy and trying new things. There was no way I was going to make some
professors happy if I hated the project” (Anonymous Interview, Faerm 2018).
Notably, the students’ prioritization of their own learning goals within the context of a new
world of academic freedom strongly correlated with their cognitive and academic growth. By
pivoting their student’s role from one who succeeds for others to one who succeeds for one’s
self, participants felt more invested in making their self-constructed goals (e.g., design projects)
succeed. The risk of failure at something they self-constructed led them to devote extra time to
coursework, to explore and experiment more, and to ultimately create solutions and projects
they felt were optimal representations of themselves. The resulting increase of learning and
academic performance also decreased imposter syndrome. One student described this
transformation by stating, “By the end of the year, I finally began to think like a designer.
Whatever was innate was brought out and set up for further development.”
When participants were asked if their overall transition into design school was easy and
fluid, 41 percent agreed/strongly agreed, 41 percent somewhat agreed, and almost 20 percent
disagreed/strongly disagreed (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Graph Displaying Students’ Responses About the
Transition into Design School
Source: Faerm 2019
As the majority of students (60%) experienced varying levels of challenges during their
transition into design school, it is incumbent upon secondary and tertiary design education to
adopt measures that better support students’ cognitive and emotional development during their
transitional experience. The need is particularly salient when contextualized by the growing
undergraduate population that is simultaneously preparing for adulthood while prolonging its
complete arrival.
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Recommendations
In Table 1, I propose recommendations that secondary and tertiary design education can
implement to support students better during their transition from high school to design school.
These recommendations are based on this study’s findings and target the key challenges faced
by participants during their transitional experience.
Table 1: Recommendations for Secondary and Tertiary Design Education
Education Level Recommendations
Secondary Design
Education: Junior and
Senior levels
Art/Design Career Panels. Artists and designers present autobiographical
student-to-practitioner stories to students, parents, and teachers. These aim
to counter negative stereotypes, demystify professional opportunities, and
alleviate anxieties around design studies and future career options.
Panelists provide teachers with valuable insights into the future of
design practices and education, which can help them better develop relevant
curricula in art/design education. Subsequently, students receive more
meaningful guidance on portfolio development and design school
applications.
Introducing Conceptual Thinking. Conceptually focused assignments are
incorporated into advanced pre-college coursework to introduce students to
diverse research methods, conceptual and speculative thinking, and
unorthodox design processes.
Advanced coursework may also include interdisciplinary assignments
that enable students to cross-over and synthesize disciplines, address global
issues, explore systems-thinking, and generate projects that focus
exclusively on innovative design process rather than traditional “polished”
portfolio pieces.
Emphasis is placed on developing a personal, authentic approach
rather than meeting strict assignment guidelines for homogenous results
across students.
Build a Solid Critique Culture. Secondary-level art/design teachers
should observe critiques at local art/design colleges so they can better
understand the new emphases in design education and strengthen their own
critique methods and skills. Observing critiques will provide meaningful
professional development and pedagogical support for high school
art/design teachers. A critically-based presentation and critique cultural
environment is designed and implemented throughout the advanced levels
of art/design coursework. Students’ cognitive and emotional development
will be strengthened and their future transition into design school will be
more fluid.
Course Credit for External Art/Design Coursework. High schools grant
course credit for external art/design courses that meet pre-approved
requirements (e.g. learning outcomes, contact hours, etc.). Credit may be
given for individual courses (such as intensive summer studies offered by
art/design schools) or for a cluster of courses that, collectively, fulfill
academic requirements.
The practice will offer great benefit to those students who attend high
schools at which, for whatever reason, suggested changes cannot be
implemented. The external coursework will be necessary for students to
develop the required skillsets and competitive portfolios for design school
applications.
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Education Level Recommendations
Secondary and Tertiary
Design Education
Faculty Development Workshops About Young Adult Development.
At both levels, institutions provide faculty development workshops that
examine the leading theories of young adult development, contemporary
research that exists surrounding the generation of incoming students, and
the general aspects of emotional and cognitive development that occurs
between adolescence and full adulthood.
These workshops will provide practical and actionable research-
based best teaching practices that respond to the specific attributes,
learning styles, and more of the current generation of students.
Student Development Workshops About Emotional and Cognitive
Development. Similar in scope and breadth as those for faculty, these
workshops aim to decrease students’ sense of feeling the “imposter
syndrome,” to increase their confidence around independence and
autonomy, and to let them know they are sharing common challenges. By
understanding their own developmental trajectories, students will be better
able to contextualize their identities, goals, and “benchmarks” of young
adulthood.
Moreover, design school-level workshops will address those issues
not commonly discussed by student services, such as overcoming
homesickness and other commonly experienced emotional challenges that
occur during the transitional experience.
Tertiary Design
Education: Freshman
Year
Redefining Personal Success. Information is provided for students to
redefine “success” in the design school context. Focus is on the tools
students may adopt to overcome “imposter syndrome,” talent doubt, and
feelings of inadequacy. Students are encouraged to self-define personal
success, thus moving out of dualism and into higher stages of intellectual
and emotional development.
The materials will promote greater independence and preparation for
“self-authorship,” a key trait found in full adulthood. Encouragement of
the increase of personal agency will provide students with greater
ownership of their academic learning experiences. This will increase
feelings of motivation and desire for achievement.
Peer-to-Peer Mentorship System. Upper classmen are paired with first
year students so they may meet regularly and offer support by listening to
each the first years’ challenges, give advice, propose solutions, and
provide general guidance. While students may also meet with professional
advisors, faculty, and counselors, the peer-to-peer dynamic affords first
year students with the insights from the more tangible, “lived” experience
of the upper classmen. This dynamic fosters privacy, trust, and a sense of
candidness; students may feel reluctant to share certain challenges with
school administration but will share that information with a peer.
Moreover, given the surge of students seeking support services,
particularly for emotional challenges, this initiative offers more immediate
support to students before seeking student support services.
Source: Faerm 2019
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Implications and Conclusions
The findings from this study illustrate the cognitive and emotional development of students as
they transition from high school to design school. These findings reveal the significant,
widening gap between secondary and tertiary design education in the US. The dissimilarities
between the two curricular and pedagogic emphases create a disjointed academic experience
and this, consequently, engenders undue challenges for many students during their freshman
year. These challenges could be alleviated by narrowing the gap between the two dissimilar
curricula—namely by implementing conceptually-driven and interdisciplinary-focused
assignments during the advanced levels of pre-college art/design studies.
However, while this study sheds insights into how the existing curricula impacts students’
transitional experience, more research is needed to understand if such an academic re-alignment
would, in fact, decrease design students’ cognitive and emotional challenges and thus bolster
their holistic development. Furthermore, due to the limited scope of respondents to this study,
more research is needed across multiple design schools and regions in the US to better
understand the transitional experience. While this was not the focus of this project, further
research should explore how the type of high school attended (e.g., population, setting, region,
public/private) potentially impacts students’ transition into design school.
A second related implication of this research is the importance of providing high school
and college students with a greater quantity and variety of support systems. The record-numbers
of undergraduates entering college—along with their markedly different attributes compared to
those of previous generations—reveal the critical and timely need for educators, administrators,
and schools to understand better this growing population. In doing so, they will create new
pedagogical practices that target the current generation’s distinct learning styles; implement
effective curricula and academic programs that better promote students’ intellectual and
emotional development (the advancement from “dualism” to “commitment in relativism”) as
students prepare for full adulthood; develop strategic institutional support systems for
enhancing students’ well-being; and other initiatives that target the student population.
The need for this knowledge is especially critical in the design school context. However, it
must be noted that during the participants’ secondary and tertiary experiences, limited (if any)
research about these students existed prior to this study. Now that scholarly research about this
population is emerging and educators across all levels are better understanding the key
attributes and attendant needs of the current generation of students, future research is needed to
understand the existing and emerging support systems being implemented in both secondary
and tertiary levels. Advanced research may then be performed to understand how current design
students are impacted by the new supportive initiatives and experience the transitional
experience in ways that are similar or dissimilar from this study’s participants.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Steven Faerm: Associate Professor of Fashion, Parsons School of Design, New York, New
York, USA
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The International Journal of Design Education
is one of six thematically focused journals in the family of journals that support the Design Principles and Practices Research Network—its journals, book imprint, conference, and online community. It is a section of
Design Principles and Practices: An International Journal.
The International Journal of Design Education explores aspects of learning to become a
designer and to develop modes of “design thinking.”
It explores design strategies, methodologies, and
tactics. It analyzes forms of professional stance. And
it examines pedagogies of engagement with design
purposes, designed objects, and design.
As well as papers of a traditional scholarly type, this journal invites presentations of practice—including documentation of curricular practices and exegeses analyzing the effects of those practices.
The International Journal of Design Education
is a peer-reviewed, scholarly journal.ISSN 2325-128X
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