By far, the best place to train people for practice is in practice (Lawson & Dorst, 2009). The depth and nuance of knowledge imparted by practice-based learning are significant. However, even under ideal conditions, aspects central to the professional design field cannot be replicated in formalised design education. This chapter embarks on an in-depth examination of design education paradigms in the Netherlands, scrutinising the nuanced interplay between theory and practice. The discussion begins within the historical backdrop of art and crafts education, tracing its origins from the guild system’s decline to the contemporary challenges faced by creative vocational schools, art academies, and universities. A thorough exploration of educational differences, contextual separations, and the historical evolution of design disciplines sets the stage. The focus narrows onto Transition Atelier The Last Makers, a Living Lab embodying a real-world environment for interdisciplinary collaboration and innovative experimentation. As the chapter proceeds, it seeks to unravel the complex relationship between educational levels, bridge gaps in knowledge transfer, and challenge existing paradigms in design education.

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We present a framework that connects ideas from the visual arts and visual perception. It adapts two existing frameworks for the analysis of form and content so that it can be used in an educational context for teaching perception through visual arts. The basis is the formal analysis of texture, colour, light, space, and material. This analysis can be conducted both on the medium and the motif, which adds a second level in addition to the formal level. Thirdly, a conte(n/x)t level is discussed which combines a basic notion of semiotics and iconography. We share our experience of implementing pictorial analysis in design and perception education and discuss how the framework is used both in a quantitative and a qualitative fashion. Next to education, the framework provides a basis for further pictorial research.

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This article discusses the development of a framework within five primary cases that explore collaborations with local municipalities, corporations, organizations, various stakeholders, and educational institutions. It reviews the progression of speculation, from a pragmatic response to immediate educational demands modeling critical and experimental approaches from professional practice, toward an approach to cognitive apprenticeship (CA) (Collins et al., 1987), foregrounding digital and material discourse as a post-disciplinary externalization of cognition within situated practice (Brown et al., 1989). Speculation is developed as an operative tool or a structured operation within the design process, linking critical research components to material realities and potential futures. This approach reflects a decentralization or distribution of developmental influence and responsibility from a relatively isolated or compartmentalized linear system with strong biases toward internal, centralized knowledge to a network directly engaged with research perspectives, sociotechnical systems, situated knowledges, and practices in everyday life. Through CA techniques, including distributed scaffolding (Puntambekar, 1997), and activity sequencing (Tharp, 1993; Dennen, 2000), an iterative approach to ethnomethodological variation influenced foundational metacognitive development exemplified by higher-level progression of learning trajectories in the case studies, both inside and outside of ‘the school,’ addressing broad variation in participant competencies and substantial participant groups (up to 460). We argue that at the core of this utility is the flexibility to embrace complexity and address ongoing change while still situating foundational themes and competencies (including critical approaches to knowledge sources, participatory processes, and projected futures) as necessary components in a logical, ethical, understandable, and exploratory framework.@en

In this inaugural address, Prof. Van Middelkoop focuses on the role of visual communication and education in an age dominated by visual culture, speed and changeability.@en