WHAT DESIGN STUDENTS THINK ARE HOT TOPICS; AN ANALYSIS OF 20+ YEARS OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN MASTER PROJECTS

This paper analyses the topic choice of all 286 final year master projects done at the Department of Product Design at NTNU. Master theses were categorized using five categories: primary focus (interaction design, product design, strategic design and service design), application topic, form of cooperation, primary user focus, and gender of the student. For most of the a priori formulated hypotheses we could find support: Interaction design, service design and design for health care and welfare have become much more popular in recent years, and it is often female students that choose a focus on health and welfare, and children or elderly. Also, projects done in cooperation with public services become increasingly popular. The developments in students’ preferences are well in line with NTNU’s and the department’s research strategy, and reflect the broadness and relevance of design throughout society.