Abstract
While design transition discourse foregrounds systemic change, pedagogy frequently remains rooted in a solutionist mindset, in which the design brief often functions to perpetuate norms. Drawing on the Erasmus+ project Speculative Urban Futures, we reimagine the design brief as an infrastructure for epistemic plurality. Students collaboratively develop and circulate briefs across groups, harnessing divergence as a means of expanding the design space and unsettling normative expectations. We argue that embracing this tension is central to navigating the “growing pains” of design transitions. By embedding theoretical complexity within viscerality, playfulness and speculation, design education can shift from transmission to transformation—equipping students not simply with the ability to generate solutions, but to radically reframe what counts as a problem in the first place. The paper concludes by advocating for a surreptitious practice-based approach in which the brief functions as a critical device for cultivating alternative worldings in design pedagogy.
Keywords
design brief, pedagogy, transitions, worlding
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1837
Citation
Paez, R., and Auger, J. (2026) Against the Given: Reframing the Brief for Transformative Design Practices, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1837
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Against the Given: Reframing the Brief for Transformative Design Practices
While design transition discourse foregrounds systemic change, pedagogy frequently remains rooted in a solutionist mindset, in which the design brief often functions to perpetuate norms. Drawing on the Erasmus+ project Speculative Urban Futures, we reimagine the design brief as an infrastructure for epistemic plurality. Students collaboratively develop and circulate briefs across groups, harnessing divergence as a means of expanding the design space and unsettling normative expectations. We argue that embracing this tension is central to navigating the “growing pains” of design transitions. By embedding theoretical complexity within viscerality, playfulness and speculation, design education can shift from transmission to transformation—equipping students not simply with the ability to generate solutions, but to radically reframe what counts as a problem in the first place. The paper concludes by advocating for a surreptitious practice-based approach in which the brief functions as a critical device for cultivating alternative worldings in design pedagogy.