Navigating design communities through the new era is a significant issue facing global competition and pluralistic society. This video discusses the adaptive challenges in design education and bridged the design theory and practice. The authors explore three case studies of the REACH toothbrushes, an IEF wearable computer, and a LINNAK twin-cup. The results demonstrate the advancement and transformation from hi-tech to hi-touch. The contributions of this video are to clarify the interrelations among human factors, human actors, and cultural aspects. This video illustrates the evolution of the archetypal model of user–tool–task employing illustrative paradigms and also proposes orientated perspectives for the design industry and design education.

Generally speaking, this video aims to discuss the adaptive challenge, and bridge the gap between theory and practice in design education. From now on, navigating design communities through the new era is a significant issue facing global competition and pluralistic society. First, this video reviews the essential evolution of design theories in the past few decades on man-machine system design, user-centered design, and user experience design. Second, based on three case studies of the REACH toothbrushes, an IEF wearable computer, and a LINNAK twin-cup, the research findings are offered to witness the advancement and transformation from hi-tech to hi-touch.

Furthermore, this video summarizes three paradigms to interpret the adaptive evolution in design education. Finally, the authors propose three directions for the advancement of the creative industry and design education. The contributions of this video are to (1) clarify the interrelations between the theory and practice of design via the three foci of the human factors, human actors, and cultural aspects; (2) demonstrate the transformation of the archetypal model of user–tool–task employing illustrative paradigms; (3) identify the evolution of design education with contextual stages in the past decades; and (4) propose orientated perspectives for the personnel and institutes of the design industry and design education.

This video argues that the advancements from quality design to adaptive design and qualia design requires a hybrid of theory and practice which can work harmoniously without dilution of each but may successfully accomplish and strengthen each other when working toward a sustainable future. In fact, the more earnestly cooperation is blended when applying theory and practice towards the ends of design, the more likely it is that the product will have a tractive stimulation for future design paradigms.

One of the purposes of this video is intended to extract the timeless features and adaptive transformation of archetypal paradigms in the interaction between the discussion of design theory and design practice. The authors take the user–tool–task paradigm for example (Figure 9) to illustrate the sustainability of an archetypal paradigm in design process.

Another intention of this video is to summarize the contextual stages and mega trends of design evolution over the past decades from the active interaction and motivational feedback between design theory and design practice as discussed earlier. In summary, the evolutions consist of three orientations as shown in Figure 10: (1) from function to feeling, (2) from use to user, (3) from hi-tech to hi-touch.

This video clarified the interrelations and shifting between design theory and design practice by discussing the three foci of human factors, human actors, and cultural aspects. It explored the transformation of an archetypal mode by means of an illustrative paradigm and identified design evolution with contextual stages in the past few decades. Finally, the authors propose three perspectives and suggestions for future planning and further research for the design communities of industry and education.