A rapid development of advanced technology has produced much change in industrial design education. Due to the development of IT technology, many products have been smartened and in the flood of innovative new products, the related new majors and schools have emerged. Also due to continuous development of the computer aid of industrial design (CAID), curriculum of the design education has considerably changed and developed.

Basic and traditional methods of teaching, however, have been reduced in the fundamental & intermediate level of courses, and currently design education tends to be biased towards the needs of the industry. Most students in Korea start to major in design in the university after graduating from high school, and the entrance exams for the design departments are complex and in some cases, inappropriate.

As a result, designers who are unbalanced without knowledge of a variety of areas that have been emerging and this is an issue that cannot be ignored. To solve this issue, this study tries to present the five design principles i.e., the 5Cs; Craftsmanship, Creativity, Communication, Contents and Collaboration, that I have established over the last 20 years, working both as an educator and a designer. This study also presents the design education programs developed according to the five themes, so that healthy designers could be produced in a well-rounded environment.

Details of each item are as follows;

• Craftsmanship – There are two aspects, the mental and the physical. The mental covers sincerity of the designer and development of the ability of arrangement, and the physical covers development of the ability of handworks.
• Creativity – There are two aspects, the function and the aesthetic of creative thinking. Programs for developing both the ability of invention and the ability to styling are presented respectively from functional and aesthetic points of view.
• Communication – This covers the specific definition and methods of verbal and visual communication, being classified according to 2D, 3D and digital visual communication.
• Contents – This includes a wide range of areas. Some cases of the program’s development are presented on the basis of the themes such as the understanding of users and cultural experiences.
• Collaboration – This emphasizes the social responsibility as a designer, the design ethics and above all, the teamwork spirit, and presents some efforts of development.