MAPPING TRENDS IN U.S. INDUSTRIAL DESIGN EDUCATION: SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF MASTER THESES/FINAL PROJECTS

This study aims to understand emerging trends in recent theses/final projects (2022 to 2024) from the U.S. master’s programmes in Industrial Design. The study conducted a systematic review to analyse the theses/final projects. 94 theses/final projects from the 10 universities were reviewed based on inclusion/exclusion criteria. The results of the paper include the trends of 1) research types, 2) topic of interest, 3) targeted user group types, 4) product and outcome types, 5) technology involvement, 6) utilized research methods and terms, and 7) relationship of the identified trends. By mapping out the trends of recent ID master theses/final projects, this study contributes to reflecting and shaping the evolving landscape of ID education.