New Terms to Define the Field of Design: Critical Analysis, and Qualitative and Quantitative Survey in the Veneto Region

The paper presents the results of a research project undertaken by a team of researchers at the Università Iuav di Venezia, which began in January 2021 and ended in January 2023. The project investigated the present-day reality of design studios in the Veneto region, to understand the transformations that have occurred regarding the ways of thinking and acting tied to the modification of the areas of intervention and the design skills that are expected from the designers. Profession and relationships with companies and clients, on one hand have changed from the known and historically practiced ways, with respect to the different position and role of the designer, on the other hand have undergone a significant expansion in the possibilities of intervention. The final goal of this study is to offer a reflection on the directions of the profession with the aim of informing professionals and design businesses, but also those institutions of education which are forming the next generations of designers.