| | June 20188PREPARING TODAY'S STUDENT DESIGNER FOR THE TECHNOLOGY OF TOMORROW - AN EDUCATOR'S DILEMMAarrying the legacy of empow-ering creative minds. Pearl Academy has evolved into a globally renowned institu-tion of higher learning with a focus on Internationalism; entrepreneurship and employability; catering to the needs of the design, fashion, business and retail industry.When I was studying architecture in the mid-1990s, the design profes-sion (and design education, by exten-sion) was in the middle of a massive paradigm shift. CAD (Computer Aid-ed Design) was becoming the norm in architecture firms everywhere, and colleges were struggling to figure out how to strike the right balance between ensuring students learned vital manual drawing skills - passed down through centuries of architec-tural teaching ­ and preparing them for the skills needed by the profes-sional marketplace upon graduation. Before joining architecture school, I had worked as a CAD draftsman in an architecture firm for a year, and in those days many offices had specif-ic employees (sometimes students) who were responsible for preparing all computer-drafted drawings based on hand-drawn sketches and notes given to them by older architects who weren't proficient in the software. Firms would manage by striking their own balance between old and young designers, who were or were not well-versed in the current versions of the software used at the time. The typical office space had just as many drafting tables in the studio as bulky digital workstations.Fast forward 20+ years, and the profession is no less settled in terms of managing the balance between digital tools and manual skills. The actual tools may have changed, but if you ask any designer practicing in the world today whether they value digital skills or manual skills, they will undoubtedly say that both are By Prof. Nidhip Mehta, Head, School of Design, Pearl AcademyCarrying the legacy of empowering creative minds, Pearl Academy has evolved into a globally renowned institution of higher learning with a focus on Internationalism, entrepreneurship, and employability, catering to the needs of the design, fashion, business and retail industry.IN MY OPiNionC
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