Vision
The foundation programme supports students in developing values, attitudes and sensorial skills necessary for any design course. The programme provides appropriate direction, stimuli, facilities and experience to foster creativity and thereby help each individual discover his/her own identity, ability and potential, and appreciate the multi disciplinary nature of design. The primary vision is to introduce students to the fundamentals of design and enable them to understand design as a problem solving process.
Background and Relevance
Foundation Programme at NID was initially based on the model of a Basic Design Course evolved through two German design schools namely Bauhaus (1930s) and ULM (1950s). NID as per its mandate eventually developed indigenous design pedagogy as it has to address issues and concerns pertaining to the Indian context. Foundation Programme is first among those streamlined programmes, which now stands as a pioneering and time tested course in design fundamentals at NID.
The Graduate Diploma Programme in Design (GDPD) at NID commences with a mandatory two-semester Foundation Programme. The purpose is to create an awareness of the environment and to awaken the students' creative faculties.
The changing world scenario, with the market driven economy and globalization has strong implications for design thinking and practice. Though basic attitudes to learning are more constant, they need to match the need of the 21 st century.
In the foundation programme, students learn how to learn about design by following a programme that provides them with a base for advanced study and a professional career as a designer in the context of India 's needs and priorities.
Programme Aims
The Foundation Programme aims to introduce students to the design essentials, and to understand design as a multi-disciplinary problem solving process.
The programme enables students to build attitudes which help them identify their own strengths and aptitudes, and take decisions about the field which they wish to study within the framework of NID's academic structure.
It also equips the students with the required set of basic cognitive skills as well as an ability to use material and tools and other software to realize their concepts in appropriate forms, which are required to perform in the relevant specialization they choose. The students are made aware of their sociocultural environment and oriented to work in teams and be debt to meet deadlines.
Programme Objectives
This compact and intense one year Programme is mandatory before students branch out for the discipline of choice. Its curriculum is time tested and continuously evolving. It draws upon indigenous situations, based on which it intends to help to orient young minds and instill awareness about Indian as well global design milieu. Its underlying larger aims make Foundation Programme truly a generic curriculum in design fundamentals. The Foundation Programme strives to,
- Strengthen the basic design knowledge and skills,
- Sensitize and enrich the perception,
- Re-arouse and nurture student's creative faculties,
- Develop an eye for quality,
- Develop an awareness of environment and to relate the learning to real life situations,
- Enhance the values in humanities, ecology as well as in self conduct,
- Foster intuitive and emotional side in student than only rational physical and mental training,
- Develop understanding of design as a problem solving process,
- Build up competence, sense of responsibility and confidence with an ability to choose career options in design and
- Attain a wholesome development as a potential design graduate.
Foundation Programme offers 11 different courses under four larger modules in
- Design Drawing & Visualization
- Basic Design
- Design Processes and Applications
- Design Context, Culture and Values.
All the courses under these modules try to achieve specifically defined and assessable micro objectives, with a freedom and flexibility to individual teachers in terms of course contents and methodology. This helps to maintain an open and constantly developing nature of curriculum and a creative learning environment. These courses essentially are of exploratory and enrichment category which lay emphasis on the process, experience, analysis and internalization. While doing so, foundation also familiarizes students with everyday design terminology and basic thumb-rules as some of the primary assets for a budding designer. |
