THE INFLUENCE OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT IN FOUNDATIONAL STUDIES OF UNDERGRADUATE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN IN JAPANESE UNIVERSITIES

The purpose of this study is to clarify the changes in foundational studies of Japanese undergraduate industrial design education under the influence of technological advancements. Some scholars believe that design acts as a bridge between technology and human needs, and that human-centered design can make technology more emotionally and culturally meaningful. Research on design education mainly focuses on its history and current state, with limited discussion on the future trends of design education. With the continuous development of artificial intelligence, the impact of technology on design education is a topic worth exploring. In industrial design education, research is relatively limited, and the existing studies often focus on a single institution. However, industrial design education in Japanese universities is diverse, and the geographic and cultural limitations of a single sample may lead to the generalizability of conclusions. Therefore, such studies cannot provide an effective reference for forecasting the development of Japanese undergraduate industrial design education in the intelligent era.To be able to forecast the future needs, it is necessary to clarify the changes and patterns of industrial design education under the influence of technological development. With the advent of the intelligent era, how industrial design education will evolve is a topic worth exploring. Japanese design has gone through several phases, including functionalist design, commercialist design, and a shift from designing "objects" to designing "experiences" that address social, cultural, and ecological needs.