Content, structure and essence of professional development of a future designer: theoretical analysis

The relevance of the study is determined by the transformation of the role of design in modern society: from the aestheticization of the objective environment to a tool for solving complex sociocultural problems. These changes require a revision of established ideas about the process of professional development of a designer in the higher education system. This problem acquires particular significance in the context of a pedagogical university, where the training of a future designer has a binary nature, combining the formation of design competencies and readiness for pedagogical activity. The aim of the study is to identify the essence, component composition and structural organization of the professional development of a future designer as a specific pedagogical phenomenon determined by the conditions of training in a pedagogical university. The article clarifies the essence of professional development of a designer as a process of forming a subject of project culture capable of implementing ‘amplified practice’ and participatory design. Four structural components are identified and substantively characterized: motivational-value, cognitive-content, activity-technological and reflexive-creative. It is established that the reflexive-creative component acts as a system-forming element. The content lines of professional development are defined: formation of professional culture, mastering the language of form creation, mastering visual communication technologies, development of metacognitive abilities. The specificity of the pedagogical phenomenon of professional development of a designer in a pedagogical university is revealed, which consists in the ambivalence of the vector of student’s personality development, the synthesis of project and pedagogical activity, the formation of a special type of specialist — ‘teacher-designer’. It is concluded that the professional development of a future designer is a holistic, dynamic, cyclical process of quantitative and qualitative changes in personality, the core of which is the formation of transprofessional competencies and a facilitative position. The proposed structural-content model can serve as a theoretical basis for designing educational programs and diagnosing the level of professional development of design students in a pedagogical university.