Abstract
Design pedagogy is futural. Our field of practice is to create design leaders of the future. In the context of uncertain futures an exploration of design literacies and futures literacies is a means of preparing our students for what is to come. Framed as a skill that uses collective intelligence, imagination and experimentation to think about the future in innovative ways, futures literacies and, so too design literacies, are about building people’s capacities to make sense of complex situations, while crafting ways to act that are more consistent with the type of futures we want. But how is this to be done? Exploring the ideas of futures literacies and design literacies the paper’s goal is to begin to reimagine both how we can design but also what we teach in design. In doing this, the paper is a provocation to those of us working in design education to think how we can think differently, design differently, and – importantly – teach design differently.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.179
Citation
Barcham, M., Russell, G., Badke, C.,and Fox, T.(2025) Design Literacies & Futures Literacies: Pedagogies for Diverse Futures, in Clemente, V., Gomes, G., Reis, M., Félix, S., Ala, S., Jones, D. (eds.), Learn X Design 2025, 22-24 September 2025, Aveiro, Portugal. https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.179
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Full Paper
Design Literacies & Futures Literacies: Pedagogies for Diverse Futures
Design pedagogy is futural. Our field of practice is to create design leaders of the future. In the context of uncertain futures an exploration of design literacies and futures literacies is a means of preparing our students for what is to come. Framed as a skill that uses collective intelligence, imagination and experimentation to think about the future in innovative ways, futures literacies and, so too design literacies, are about building people’s capacities to make sense of complex situations, while crafting ways to act that are more consistent with the type of futures we want. But how is this to be done? Exploring the ideas of futures literacies and design literacies the paper’s goal is to begin to reimagine both how we can design but also what we teach in design. In doing this, the paper is a provocation to those of us working in design education to think how we can think differently, design differently, and – importantly – teach design differently.