Design + Change show.
Photo Marie Sterte, 2018.
They are based on understandings from metadesign, for example by emphasising the interplay between the designed products, the systems they form part of, and the cultures and mindsets that shape thought and action spaces.
Therefore, we opened up the focus from the typical specified outcome (such as furniture, fashion, products or advertising) of design education. Instead, on the + Change programmes, the type of designs that students develop depend on the needs and opportunities in the context they address. This means students may design a new ritual for sharing, a guide for collaboration, a tool for engaging citizens in biodiversity. The systemic take on sustainability means that students address many themes: mental health, climate change, pollution, poverty, war, crime, migration, integration, and often in combinations. To support as diverse conversations as possible, the programmes have international intake also for bachelor students, and the staff is equally diverse. We say that we speak ‘Smålish’, the English of Småland, which is imperfect and thrives on mistakes. To support learning from a specific place and community, we dedicate a whole term to the local region of Småland, because if you have learnt to design from one specific place, you can also do it in other places.
The programmes build competencies in two core areas of Design and Change (theories, sciences, histories of sustainability and change), and three support areas of Communication for impact, Learning and curiosity, and Collaboration, community and care.
Mathilda Tham brought the guiding metadesign frameworks into the work of designing the new degree programmes and have continuously worked with staff and students to shape them. The new + Change profile was launched in 2015. Learn more about our programmes here and recent student work here.