Design in the Business School: Teaching Outside the Academic Box

Ruth Lozner, Associate Professor of Design and Marketing, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

For the last eight years, I have taught a hybrid course called “Design in Marketing”. Housed in the RH Smith School of Business, it is comprised of both art and business majors. Its original purpose was three-fold:

• to teach our design students the basics and reality of business and the increasingly important role that design plays in business strategy

• to teach the business students the basics and reality of design and show them how marketing theory is interpreted visually to achieve business goals.

• to simply introduce these two affiliated yet artificially segregated majors to each other and have them learn to work creatively and productively together as they must in the professional world.

Both the design and business cultures have changed significantly since I began teaching the course. It’s now absolutely imperative for businesses, including the “Design & Marketing” firms in today’s world, to have progressive thinkers who understand concepts from both disciplines. With the help of a like-minded business faculty member, my one course has evolved into the “Design, Innovation and Marketing Fellowship” Program.

I believe these kinds of interdisciplinary liaisons are essential to the future of design programs. While it has always been obvious to us designers that creativity leads the way to innovation and that innovation leads the way to business success, we have been preaching to our own choirs. Teaching creative thinking and innovative problem-solving are professional secrets we need to share. This is one success story.