Whose Job is it? 3D Scanning Design for Innovation

There are often references in design education to the idea that design graduates of the future will be working in jobs that do not yet exist. There are therefore opportunities emerging that are not currently recognised as within the designers’ purview. One such area of growth is emerging out around the potentials created by technological developments relating to 3D scanning. This technology is proving to be a catalyst for not only new product outcomes but also innovations in thinking and practice. This is particularly in relation to new workflows that are permeating traditional discipline boundaries. The wide range of advances in digital scanning over the last twenty years have resulted in a myriad of complex capabilities, and the potential of these technologies to support innovation in practice, outcome and thinking are only beginning to be explored. Examples of these explorations are considered in this paper, demonstrating how they can provide a basis for redirecting design for a future of digital immersion. This paper questions the rigour in current approaches to teaching 3D scanning technologies in design education.  It provides an argument that 3D scanning is part of a rapidly evolving suite of digital enablers that are challenging conventional design practice and suggests that educators need to more effectively research and understand the innovations that 3D scanning technologies can inspire.