Abstract
As the design profession becomes increasingly diverse and fluid, many design students struggle to define a clear career direction. Existing reflection practices in education offer support, yet outcomes remain inconsistent due to limited mentoring capacity, uneven role model exposure and ambiguity in emerging roles. This paper investigates how the combination of generative AI and facilitated human reflection can support students in increasing their perceived career direction clarity. We present the results of an explorative investigation on IkigAI, an educational workshop combining the Japanese ikigai framework with GenAI as a co-reflective partner. Human reflection and three rounds of GenAI interaction with prompt templates aim to generate grounded career possibilities. Our findings show that GenAI can scaffold reflection, broaden role awareness and stimulate identity exploration when facilitated properly. While the depth of the impact depends on individual and contextual dimensions, career direction clarity emerges by providing students conceptual insights and practical action.
Keywords
Ikigai; career direction; generative artificial intelligence; design education
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2082
Citation
Mayer, C., Smeenk, W., and Calabretta, G. (2026) IkigAI: Co-Reflection with AI to Enhance Career Direction Clarity in Design Education, 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.2026.2082
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
IkigAI: Co-Reflection with AI to Enhance Career Direction Clarity in Design Education
As the design profession becomes increasingly diverse and fluid, many design students struggle to define a clear career direction. Existing reflection practices in education offer support, yet outcomes remain inconsistent due to limited mentoring capacity, uneven role model exposure and ambiguity in emerging roles. This paper investigates how the combination of generative AI and facilitated human reflection can support students in increasing their perceived career direction clarity. We present the results of an explorative investigation on IkigAI, an educational workshop combining the Japanese ikigai framework with GenAI as a co-reflective partner. Human reflection and three rounds of GenAI interaction with prompt templates aim to generate grounded career possibilities. Our findings show that GenAI can scaffold reflection, broaden role awareness and stimulate identity exploration when facilitated properly. While the depth of the impact depends on individual and contextual dimensions, career direction clarity emerges by providing students conceptual insights and practical action.