Connecting education, practice and research: creating meaningful products within an industrial design studio using a product narrative framework

This paper considers a conceptual design framework that was developed in professional practice. The framework is termed the ‘Product Narrative’ and is an approach to design that has been developed by the principal authors of this paper in their own award-winning Sydney-based design practice. The Product Narrative framework consists of a four part approach – Narrative; Manufacture; History; and Interaction. This framework offers a means to stimulate a multilayered narrative or story, communicating the ideas of the designers to the enduser via the product. The following paper elaborates on this approach in practice, and describes its implementation in a second year industrial design studio. The perceived value of the Product Narrative is described, and the value of connecting design education with practice.