New technologies and misinterpreted effectiveness have been displacing physical models from design studios. The decreasing interest in manual work has not remained neutral to the system of education of designers, who will determine the future condition of industrial design. Before the changes in teaching programmes have gone too far, it is worth taking a look at the role that model building and testing play in the design process. Juxtaposing the experience of the co-founder of the global design studio IDEO, Tom Kelley and the long-standing dean of the Department of Architecture of the Helsinki University of Technology, Juhani Pallasmaa, with the observations carried out in School of Form, the chair of industrial design of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities and in the Department of Design of the Pratt Institute allows to define the benefits of working on a model. The analysis aims to indicate the dangers and requirements faced by the practical disciplines and the system of their education.
Keywords: design education, manual work, practical skills, models and prototypes, awareness of material