Introduction to the Discipline of Design

1）Orientation and Target

 

Relying on the discipline and the scientific research advantages, we attach great importance to innovation education and practice education, adhering to moral character, knowledge, ability and quality coordinated development and combination. We plan to cultivate high quality innovative entrepreneurial professionals to meet the needs of social development and the design application field in our country, endeavoring to become a first-class teaching-type design discipline to cultivate high quality graduate professionals by 2025.

 

2）Advantages and Characteristics

 

The discipline has existed since 2003 when approval was given for the establishment of a design art discipline, with further promotion in 2011 for the design of the discipline. The discipline has a strong advantage and very high academic research ability in the field of design and technology, furniture design and technology, visual communication design, and interior design and materials. The discipline has 6 professors, 12 associate professors, 9 lecturers, and 11 graduate assistants. 7 faculty have their doctorate, and 20 have their master's degrees. Over the years, the research results have been in the leading level of similar domestic forestry colleges and universities.

 

3）Talent Cultivation Objectives

 

This discipline is formed on the basis of wood and wood composite materials and combines with industrial design, product engineering and application. The discipline has different directions, such as furniture design and technology, interior design and technology, visual communication design, and design and materials. Intending to cultivate highly specialized professionals with industrial design theory and in the future, they could engage in related fields of design, teaching and scientific research, etc.

 

4）Discipline Orientation

 

①Furniture design and technology research

 

Some courses such as “furniture design and technology” have been offered since establishment of Northeast Forestry University in 1952. The undergraduate major of interior and furniture design was set up in 1994. In 2003, the research orientation of furniture design and technology was set up after the discipline had been approved. As for the research mode, we don’t adopt the artistic mode. The research mode not only focusing on furniture modeling design, but also paying attention to the structure, material and function of furniture. The relationship and combination between them are significant, and in this way, the discipline discusses green furniture product development and the relationship between people and the environment, achieving harmony between art and technology of furniture products, improving and enriching the theory of modern furniture design in our country. Research of Chinese ancient furniture is also important. Research looks to excavate the deep cultural connotation and relationship between structure, material, function and craft, to determine the design concept and decoration style, to inherit the design essence of Chinese ancient furniture, and finally, to establishthe interconnection between ancient furniture and modern furniture.

 

②Interior design and technology research

 

Since 1994, the department of Art and Design set up the interior and furniture design undergraduate specialty, with the teaching and scientific research work of interior design in full swing. With the continual improvement of public facilities and living standards, the interior decoration industry has entered a period of rapid development, so there is a need of high quality, high level professional designers to guide mainstream interior design. But, because of the lack of a high level of interior design talent, there are prominent problems in the interior decoration industry: interior design style tends to mainly imitate others, lacking people-oriented design concepts, few geographical and cultural features, seriously crowded interior and overall decoration, no reflection of green concepts in the design and construction, finishing materials that do not conform to standards, etc. In 2003, the research orientation was set up at the establishment and the research mode based on advanced theories of interior design aesthetic, and conducted an in-depth and systematic research in new interior design, decoration materials, structure and construction technology, etc, finally forming a combined research mode of design and technology.

 

③Visual communication design and research

 

The art design program set up the visual communication design undergraduate course programs in 1998 and established the visual communication design and research direction after the establishment of the discipline in 2003 and after several years of accumulation in combination with market demand. After years of exploration of the theory and practice, the research direction is mainly formed by 5 associate professors of the teaching and research team. The teaching team and graduate students have been involved in social practice activities. The professional demands of the creative design industry and research institutions is continually increasing in areas such as advertising planning, exhibition display, multimedia production, newspapers and magazines, film and television media and so on, resulting in a wide development space for the research field of visual communication design.

 

④Discipline direction: design and materials research

 

Northeast Forestry University is mainly focuses on forestry, looking at the basic theory and application research of wood, wood composites and biomass materials, resulting in a leading domestic position in this field. This discipline takes advantage of this basic orientation of the university. The research of main carrier materials and application of design will open more space for creation. The discipline direction takes the basic theory and application research about design and materials as the foundation, combined with relevant factors in the design such as texture, vision, and touch of materials to explore the relationship between design and material.

 

5）Influences at Home and Abroad

 

Discipline member occupy important positions in some academic organization. Seven members have engaged in cooperative research in the United States, Germany, France, Canada, Finland and other countries. Based on the key laboratory of the Ministry of Education and provincial experimental center, teaching and the scientific research tasks can be achieved.

 

The discipline is highly influential in research at home and abroad, and has published over 30 monographs, more than 550 papers, received over 10 provincial teaching and scientific research awards, 20 design competition awards, and 14 patents in past five years. The longitudinal and transverse scientific research funds were 3.841 million Yuan and 940,000 Yuan respectively. The total enrollment is 219, in which 68 students have obtained the master's degree since approved by the design of the master of art in 2003. Based on the combination of technology and design art research, this discipline has unique research and teaching conditions, and the development of this discipline continues to guide this discipline into a leading position in similar domestic colleges and universities.