A new Australian Financial Press-funded Fashion Designers’ Course aims to make interior design a “dynamic and exciting career” for women with “an understanding of the needs and expectations of women”.
The program, which is being run by the Australian Centre for Fashion Design, is being launched as part of a $5.6 million Federal Government funding for new apprenticeships for female graduates of the arts and design sector.
The course is being designed by industry-leading Australian designers and will include three modules that cover the fundamentals of designing, including “a strong understanding of fashion”, “design fundamentals and principles” and “the role of design in everyday life”.
In the first module, participants will be introduced to the basics of designing a business, including the principles of sourcing, sourcing materials, planning and marketing.
They will be able to apply these principles to their own projects and learn about how to effectively use digital skills and create custom products.
The second module is for students to apply the skills they have learnt in the previous module to their designs.
The final module will explore the use of technology in design, with a focus on the design and implementation of social media and mobile applications.
The project was jointly funded by the Commonwealth and the Australian Institute of Design.
A range of new skills, such as social media, web development and collaboration will be offered to participants in the first phase of the project.
For the second phase, participants are also invited to apply their design skills to an emerging field, such in technology, finance or human resource management.
In the third phase, which will last four weeks, participants learn how to apply design principles to business projects and their design careers.
The first phase was funded by a $1.8 million Federal Department of Industry and Innovation funding, and will run from next March until May 2021.
“Designers have been able to make great progress in recent years, but in order to do so, they need to be confident and prepared to adapt to a changing industry and to the challenges of the workplace,” said the Commonwealth Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Andrew Robb.
“The course aims to provide an introduction to the fundamentals, with skills that will enable them to apply those principles to the design of their own businesses.”
“The success of our new apprenticeship programme will be driven by the quality of the training that students receive in our Designers Training program,” Mr Robb added.
“Our students will be the first to make the jump into the career of an architect or designer in the future.”
A number of universities, businesses and organisations have already been funding apprenticeships in their industries.
The new model will be rolled out across Australia.
Topics:arts-and-entertainment,design,design-and.design,australia