Educating resilient and well designers

In this paper, we explore how resilience and wellbeing can integrate into, and improve design pedagogy. We establish 10 principles for designer resilience from workshops with students, educators and design practitioners. Each principle offers a platform to develop subsequent learning activities that remedy hollow didactic statements observed...

A community-based learning program to improve wellbeing and design student success

While the Pandemic has increased awareness towards student wellbeing in higher education (HE), it also exacerbated existing challenges. Specifically, students pursuing their master graduation thesis often find themselves isolated and overwhelmed due to the individualistic nature of their project and the pressure to create a ‘masterpiece’. In...

A review of resilience in higher education: toward the emerging concept of designer resilience

Higher education (HE) students experience rates of depression and anxiety substantially higher than those found in the general population. Many psychological approaches to improving wellbeing and developing student resilience have been adopted by HE administrators and educators, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. This article aims to...

An adaptive and strategic human-centred design approach to shaping pandemic design education that promotes wellbeing

Positive student wellbeing is intrinsically connected to positive learning outcomes. Students learn more when they feel well, and the way we shape education influences the way students feel. The COVID-19 crisis has forced us to radically change our design education and is having a large impact on student wellbeing and learning. While some...

Why Am I Studying Design?

Identity development of design students is a dynamic entanglement between personal and professional identities. Yet, literature primarily focuses on professional identity, based on institutionalized definitions of design to which students must conform. In contrast, we explore personal motivations for wanting to become a designer. An instrumental...