An analysis of preference formation in introductory design education

Basic design education is an important experience for design students, since they are expected to construct a basis for their further education and future career, and there are several objectives in basic design education to construct this basis. Moreover, during basic design education students begin to form their preferences on visual aspects of design which will determine the quality of design product. The methodology of basic design education is based on social interaction. However, social choice theory assumes that social interaction between people will result with similar preferences of individuals, as opposite to the objectives of basic design education. Thus, the main concern of this study is to investigate probable effects of social interaction in basic design studio on preference formation of basic design students in the case of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design department of Bilkent University to open up a discussion on the relevancy of basic methodology to its objectives, and the validity of the common consents of basic design education. The results of the research show that students form similar sets of preferences because of their social interaction with instructors and their perceptual tendencies, and this manifests a situation contradicted with the objective of basic design education.