Beautiful nerds: growing a rigorous design research dialogue in the Irish context

Abstract

Ireland is a country with a small and emergent design research community.

Relative to other countries, the practice of design itself in Ireland is a recent

development with the first formal design courses materialising in the mid-1970s.

Without historical legacy and sustained coordinated support from design specific

state development agencies, the progress of this nascent Irish design sector has been

fragmented and unfocused. Irish Design 2015 (ID2015) a yearlong government

backed initiative sought to address this lack of coherence in tandem with increasing

the visibility and profile of Irish design. This article reflects on the historical context

Irish design research and practice sits within and explores the early success of the

ITERATIONS Design Research and Practice review as one of a series of initiatives

launched as part of ID2015. It makes the case for robust dialogue and advocacy in

addressing the needs of an emergent community of practice