Hasta La Ideas

pIn a shrewd bit of business maneuvering, the ID program at Philadelphia University has gained their students access to a client most graduated designers would dream of being able to snag: Urban Outfitters. The lifestyle retailer has annual sales of nearly $2 billion and has an extremely desirable customer base–college students and recent grads, a young but spendy demographic for whom buying certain “lifestyle” products defines their very identity. Students had an opportunity to pitch product designs which, if selected, could wind up on store shelves in UO. /p

pPhilly’s U’s Industrial Design 202, a.k.a. BUILD Studio, owes much of this access credit to Josh Owen:/p

blockquoteIn the five years since Josh Owen, designer and holder of the Craig R. Benson Chair for Innovation at the university, conceived of BUILD, his students have collaborated with companies in Philadelphia and New York, where commissions are hard to come by for even experienced professional designers.

p…As a working product designer with pieces in the permanent collections of several museums, Owen knows the significance of real-life experience. He conceived of BUILD as a way to impress upon students still in early stages of their design education the importance of what he calls “the compressing world of industrial design.”/p

p”There’s not much separation between design, business, and engineering,” Owen says. “We want students to be aware of and immersed in these realities so they can compete in an increasingly demanding marketplace.”/blockquote/p

pTheir lessons about competing seem to be having an effect–out of 32 sophomore projects presented to Urban Outfitters, the retail giant is reportedly interested in pursuing 18 of them!/p

pRead more about BUILD Studio A HREF=”http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_design/20100514_Design_students_learn_by_working_with_pros.html#axzz0nuKULb3e” here/A./pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/education/philly_us_id_program_providing_students_with_great_connections_16563.asp”(more…)/a
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