Personal exploration vs "the client"

Reflecting on this topic I am concluding that mostly students will create work of a personal nature - at least that's what I've experienced. Even when there is an imperative to conform the the brief, meet the client's needs etc...



It's what students do and in fact what they should do...

This work [left] is from a group of Chinese students given the problem of selecting and articulating a range of design principles through form generation or performance. The point is that these same students are now very effectively working in industry fulfilling client needs having developed a palette of creative strategies through experimentation during their studies.

Design education programs should of course be delivering learning outcomes that create awareness of industry expectations but a balance should be struck to give students the time to explore...