How We Teach Design Is Changing—and It Just Might Change the World for the Better

Here at GOOD, we believe that design can be used to create positive social, environmental, and economic change. So we're joining forces with our friends at Impact Design Hub to share compelling stories about design that's moving the world forward. The article below is an excerpt of “The Future of Impact Design Education.” Get the full story here.

Image via Flickr user Gustave Deghilage (cc)

Though degrees in “impact design,” “social design,” or “public interest design" are relatively rare, students in the field today will influence how our world looks, moves, and feels for generations. So we asked some of the design world’s most influential thought leaders about how design education will evolve over the next 10 years.

Baerbel Mueller

Head of the [applied] Foreign Affairs lab at the Institute of Architecture, University of Applied Arts Vienna

“In 2025, we will finally have understood that our planet has limited resources. All designers will work, and act, and educate simultaneously, with a truly planetary and truly local approach, and in truly transcultural and truly transdisciplinary settings. It will be about beauty, and eco, not ego.”

Marc Norman

Director of UPSTATE, a Center for Design Research and Real Estate at Syracuse University School of Architecture

“In architecture, a focus on the building envelope and finishes is no longer enough. The designer of the future won’t be an expert in climate change, finance, or sociology, but should understand ways to engage with many other professions. ”