設計學院取代商學院成爲熱門大綱

Forget b-school. These days, ol is the place to go.

忘掉商學院吧，如今求學要去設計學院。

Stanford University's ol-the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design-has gained recognition in recent years for introducing the trendy, but murky, problem-solving concept known as "design thinking" to executives, educators, scientists, doctors and lawyers. Now other schools are coming up with their own programs.
斯坦福大學(Stanford University)的哈素•普拉特納設計學院(Hasso Plattner Institute of Design)提出一種名爲"設計思維"的理念，在近年來獲得了外界認可。這種設計思維是針對企業高管、教育界人士、科學家、醫生和律師而提出的一種時尚、但相當模糊的問題解決方式。如今，其他學校也開始紛紛開設類似的課程。

Design thinking uses close, almost anthropological observation of people to gain insight into problems that may not be articulated yet. For example, researchers may study the habits of shoppers waiting to pay for groceries in order to create a more efficient checkout system that maximizes last-minute purchases while keeping customers moving quickly.
設計思維通過對人們進行密切、甚至近乎人類學研究式的觀察，來獲取深入信息，以解決那些可能尚未浮出水面的問題。舉個例子，研究者可以通過研究購物者在收銀臺前排隊時的習慣來創立一套更高效的結賬系統，以便在保證消費者能夠快速通過收款臺的同時，充分利用消費者最後一刻的購買衝動。

Traditionally, companies have relied on focus groups to get feedback on products that were already in development. With design thinking, potential solutions-products, processes or services-are modeled, often using simple materials like markers and pipe-cleaners, then tested and quickly adjusted based on user feedback.
按照傳統方式，企業會依靠對焦點人羣的調查來獲取對已開發產品的反饋。而採用設計思維模式後，企業會將潛在的解決方案──包括產品、流程和服務──製成模型，這些模型通常會使用簡單的材料，然後對其進行測試並根據用戶反饋快速地進行調整。

The ol was launched in 2005-one of the first of its kind-with help from a $35 million donation by SAP AG +0.49%co-founder Hasso Plattner, who has said he was inspired to spread the practice after reading a magazine article about global consultancy IDEO, a leader in design thinking.
斯坦福的這家設計學院是於2005年在SAP AG創始人之一哈素•普拉特納(Hasso Plattner)3,500萬美元的資助下創建的，屬於最早的一批設計學院。普拉特納曾表示，他是在雜誌上看到一篇關於全球諮詢公司IDEO的文章後，受到了啓發，遂決定要讓更多人瞭解這種方式。IDEO公司是設計思維方式的倡導者。

Designed to ignite creativity and collaboration, the ol's interior looks like a preschool playroom for grown-ups: Colorful furniture, open spaces and neon Post-it Notes abound. The school said much of the lay out is for the sake of teamwork, as hard chairs and small tables encourage student groups to remain on their toes and work more closely with each other.
爲了激發創造力和合作精神，哈素•普拉特納設計學院的裝潢設計很獨特，內部看起來就好像是爲成年人準備的幼兒園遊戲室：色彩明亮的傢俱、開放式的空間、各種顏色的即時貼比比皆是。這家學院表示，大多數設計都旨在促進團隊合作，像是很硬的座椅和不大的課桌可以鼓勵學生們一直站着，走近彼此以便更密切地合作。

The ol doesn't award degrees and isn't tied to any individual department, but two to four times as many students want to take its courses than there are seats available. It now enrolls 700 students a year, up from 100 in its inaugural year. Courses run the gamut from designing products for the world's poor to "ress: Designing Calm," in which students design technology that "enables calm states of cognition, emotion and physiology."
這家設計學院並不授予學位，也不附屬於任何一個院系，但是希望上設計學院課程的學生人數是學院所能接受學生數的兩到四倍。目前該學院每年接收700名學生，比初創那年的100名學生多出不少。課程設置涉及領域相當廣泛，有些課程要求學生設計出供世界各地窮人所使用的產品，還有一門名爲"ress: Designing Calm"的課程，教授學生能夠在認知、情感和生理上帶來平靜狀態的設計技巧。