Abstract
Within design education, co-design is taught as a democratic approach used by designers to engage with diverse groups and empower them to make creative contributions towards the solutions to socially complex (or wicked) problems. It is also emphasised that co-design requires collaboration, shared understanding, and active participation across the entire design process, from discovery through to delivery. The Covid-19 pandemic has magnified some old societal issues and created new, extraordinary challenges to our daily lives, amplifying the need for reflective and evolved co-design education. As part of a submission for a Design Thinking module, students from two Taught Postgraduate (TPG) programmes at the University of Dundee, MSc Product Design and MSc Design for Business, conducted independent interviews with leading experts on co-design from different disciplines and industry sectors and compiled reports for formal review. Through a qualitative thematic analysis of over 100 student interview reports over a period of 3 years, this study sets out to develop an evaluative framework to identify and analyse the different research and experience-based perspectives on co-design. Using a modified version of Sanders’ Say, Do and Make model, the paper discusses relevant factors that can either facilitate or impede successful co-design, paying particular attention to the importance of motivation in leadership; levels of empathy; hierarchy of control and mindsets for collective impact. The paper concludes with a set of working principals to overcome potential pitfalls related to co-design and its education, ensuring it remains teachable, learnable, and applicable.
Presenters
Sharifa LatterProgramme Director MSc Design for Business, Social Digital, University of Dundee, United Kingdom Fraser Bruce
Programme Director, Product Design, The School of Art and Design, University of Dundee, Dundee City, United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2021 Special Focus: Towards a (Design) New Deal
KEYWORDS
Design, Education, Co-Design, Empathy, Mindsets and Collective Impact
