SCHOOL OF DESIGN (http://www.duoc.cl/escdiseno.html)
Although practically unknown in our country until only a few decades ago, the discipline of design is experiencing a wave of general interest throughout the private sector. It appears that companies have understood that design is not only one of the most important elements in differentiating their products, but also, even more fundamentally, is an effective tool for competing in international markets. DuocUC understands design as an essential element in all of mans activities, and as such, is closely explored in all of its’ varied and diverse applications to industry. This is due to the conviction that the principal function of the discipline of design is the incorporation of “added value” to all manufacturing processes. For this reason, strong interest has been placed on maintaining close contacts by means of collaborative and complementary agreements with well known international design centers such as: the Helsinki Industrial Arts University UIAH, European Design Institute IED in Milan, Italy, and the Musachino Art University of Japan, among others. The School of Design is made up of the following professional level careers: Interior Design, Industrial Design, Furniture Design, Fashion Design and Graphic Design, with significant conceptual and planning subject matter taught in study programs of eight or more semesters. The disciplines of Construction Technician, Technical Architecture Drawing and Specialized Illustration are linked to these careers as very concrete vocational options that emphasize the development and mastery of manual and operational skills in programs that last no longer than two years.
DESIGN
Design is, undoubtedly, one of the disciplines that has experienced the greatest upturn in the last decades, as a result of: Chile’s integration into international markets, the challenges and opportunities associated with Free Trade Agreements (FTA), the impact of digital economy in all fields, increased access to new information and communication technologies, and the Internet. For this reason, DuocUC understands Design as an essential element of all human activities, which is fundamental to the nation’s economy and development and, as such, is explored in its most diverse forms and expressions, in collaboration with industry.
In the last decade, Chilean companies have endeavored through an export model to provide the fundamental economic development support of the of the country. This economic orientation has considerably contributed to job growth, monetary stability, and an important increase in GDP. Because we are convinced that the major contribution of Design as a discipline is the incorporation of value added to products and productive processes, which is critical in order to improve competitiveness and exports development, the various study programs and/or careers provided by our School of Design have a strong practical orientation. We have solid relationships with manufacturing and service companies in the same areas where we provide Design Education. Currently, Design Education focus on the value added as a product-differentiating element, with emphasis on the greater opportunities enhanced value added provides when competing in the domestic and international markets, “Design” is seeing significant growth and development in our country.
STUDY PROGRAMS
This School of Design has undertaken the commitment and challenge of approaching the ubiquity of this huge discipline called Design, with diversity for a starting point. As a result a practical approach is given to the curricula for Industrial, Furniture, Graphic, Fashion, and Interior Design as professional study programs, with a substantial amount of conceptual and projective contents, provided under eight-semester long curricula. In addition, two very concrete vocational training study programs are provided: Graphic Design Technician and Digital Illustration, which stress the development of on the job aptitudes, under a curricula model spanning no more than five semesters.
We prepare and train designers and other team-work-oriented professionals capable of innovation and practical creativity, graphic expression and representation, an interest in technology, an ability to approach the development of technical skills associated with different areas of production, as well as training in management skills according to current market requirements.
DESIGN TECHNOLOGY CENTER DTC
In addition to modern infrastructure and equipment enabling students’ experimentation and implementation of acquired knowledge, the School of Design DuocUC has a Design Technology Center (CTD, Centro Tecnológico de Diseño) at its San Carlos de Apoquindo Campus, where innovative actions and precompetitive technology transference to important companies and collaboration projects are performed.
COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS (http://www.duoc.cl/edindustrial-proyectos.html)
The final semesters of the study program’s learning process include systematic collaboration projects across career programs with a strong practical orientation and stable relationships with manufacturing and service companies related to the specialties taught at the School. The collaborative projects intended to generate precompetitive solutions for products or services needed by companies or institutions. These projects serve as educational experiences to the students in the program. Students, with the guidance of professors and companies’ experts, during the development of a semi-annual subject matter or workshop, achieve important results that permit to position and strengthen Design in the industrial and societal contexts. The foregoing is complemented with the contribution of knowledge and expertise of important international design centers with which School of Design DuocUC has entered into exchange agreements.
INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS (http://www.duoc.cl/rrii/convenios.html)
Since 1993, DuocUC School of Design has established an international affairs strategy in the field of design. Various cooperation and complementary agreements have been entered into with institutions of worldwide renown, in order to contribute to the development of this discipline here in Chile and, at the same time, support industry growth and international collaboration. The development of DuocUC is based on looking outward to practical models, in order to exchange experiences and establish systematic collaborative procedures.
INTERIOR DESIGN (http://www.duoc.cl/edambientes.html)
Prepare professionals qualified to appreciate Design as an integrated development, management, production, and market system. During the program, students acquire a method of designing and specifying a wide range of living space projects. An Interior Designer orients his/her creative and technical activity toward resolving multiple issues and needs related to people and their living spaces, and designing domestic, public, or work environments, and contributing to the aesthetic and functional enrichment thereof by integrating the equipment and conditions of comfortableness required for places to be fully suitable to live in.
GRAPHIC DESIGN (http://www.duoc.cl/edgrafico.html)
Prepare professionals qualified to develop all kinds of projects in the ample field of Graphic and Visual Communications Design by employing state-of-the-art computer tools, as well as technologies fitting the new forms of communication and information, in order to provide creative responses to the needs of modern production companies. A DuocUC Graphic Designer incorporates the concepts of identity, universality, and contemporaneousness?? that are fundamental in an increasingly competitive setting, taking into consideration the globalization of communications and markets.
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN (http://www.duoc.cl/edindustrial.html)
Prepare professionals qualified to develop and manage design projects integrated into a production and market system, whose primary contribution consists in adding value and visualizing opportunities in value chains in the national production sector. During their studies, they will acquire a method of innovating that is applicable across all forms or kinds of products, with strong mastery of technology tools, including but not limited to CAD/CAM, CNC, and other computerized ones, as well as new materials and processes permitting them to orient their creative abilities and thereby successfully join the work environment.
FASHION DESIGN (http://www.duoc.cl/edvestuario.html)
Prepare professionals qualified to develop and manage products and services in the textile/fashion areas. During their studies, they will acquire competencies that will enable them to generate, define, and plan products and fashion collections by increasing their value in the market and supporting the production sector through an appropriate integration of shape, function and identity. On completion of their study program, they will be ready to manage the development, production, and supervision processes of a wide range of product types, as well as the execution of their marketing and communication strategies. A Fashion Designer from DuocUC orients his/her creative and technical activities toward meeting the multiple needs of the production sector through a design and innovation method relying on the handling of conceptual, technology, and computer tools.
GRAPHIC DESIGN TECHNICIAN (http://www.duoc.cl/edtgrafico.html)
Prepare specialists capable of comprehending and carrying out Graphic Design and Visual Communication proposals at the project level, with the ability to evaluate, measure volumes or capacities, understand, and take care of production time management, and provide concrete responses to the requirements for performance and/or execution of the graphic and communications elements involved in the presentation and materialization of such proposals.
A Graphic Design Technician makes use of his/her practical and operating creativity in resolving specific graphic and communications issues, and the management technology resources, thus becoming an active participant in the current processes of globalization of Graphic Design and Communications. From a more specific standpoint, a student in the Graphic Design Technician program is trained based on an innovative curriculum that emphasizes, strengthen, and develops abilities and skills for practical execution of Graphic Design and Visual Communication projects, with strong mastery of computer tools, and the operation communications and data technologies.
DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION (http://www.duoc.cl/edilustracion.html)
Prepare specialists qualified to contribute expertise, an aesthetic sense, and technical solutions in the field of graphic digital expression. A Digital Illustrator masters a wide range of conventional, computer, and combined illustration techniques that enable him/her to infer communication requirements and provide such requirements with appropriate virtual 2D or 3D similarity to the specific goals, by creating and developing images that can communicate the desired contents. This enables the expert to develop different kinds of illustration projects and serve the editorial, advertising, and cultural sectors, as well as other, more specialized ones, such as children’s book illustration, scientific /naturalism media, video games and the Internet.
