Managing Design to Address Complex Issues : Sustainability, Collaboration, Gender, and Systems Thinking in Design Management Education

Bakırlıoğlu, Yekta and Yetiş, Erman Örsan (2025) Managing Design to Address Complex Issues : Sustainability, Collaboration, Gender, and Systems Thinking in Design Management Education. In: DS 137: Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE 2025) : Fostering Human-Centred Products and Services in Design (OUTPACE). University of Malta, Valletta Campus, Malta. 11th and 12th September 2025. E&PDE . Design Society, pp. 409-414. ISBN 9781912254224

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Abstract

The past two decades witnessed extensive design research on addressing complex societal issues, exploring and developing novel design tools, methods, and approaches in this pursuit. This was parallel to the wider adoption of design thinking due to its unique potential to creatively explore, distil, and develop responses to complex challenges, which led to its adoption in many other disciplines. As such, design is becoming an increasingly more interdisciplinary endeavour incorporating the multitude of perspectives. However, the critical link between novel research and practical application in addressing these issues is often missing, leading to a gap where critical perspectives fail to translate into actionable practices for future designers. The research and education on design management fell behind in exploring and addressing the implications of this complexity in organisational contexts, which only hinders the potential of design practices. Realising this crucial gap, this paper will present the development, implementation and implications of a new design management course structure. The course was delivered at two universities with radically different approaches to design: a. Department of Industrial Design, Faculty of Architecture, [Technical University 1, Country], as a final year course, b. School of Design, Institute for the Contemporary Arts, [University 2, Country], as a second-year course. The course was delivered for two years at each university (four years in total), providing robust data and insights into its delivery and student learning. The course structure is as follows: 1. 'Design Management Basics' part covers the foundational principles of design management, providing students with a solid understanding of the field. 2. 'New Concerns in Design Management' part addresses contemporary issues such as environmental sustainability, collaboration, and the evolving roles of designers, as well as the gendered aspects of designing. 3. 'The Big Picture' part introduces models of innovation and transitions, helping students understand the broader context of design management. At [University 1], the course focused on depicting students' unique product design processes over two years. This approach allowed students to apply design management principles for devising projects and fostering a deeper yet nuanced and reflexive understanding of the subject. Students developed the capacity to embed sustainability and circular economy principles throughout the product design process, manage collaborations in terms of disciplinarity and user participation, and apply a gender lens in line with policy-level concerns. At [University 2], the course took an inquiry-based approach, encouraging students to investigate and address real-world design management challenges in different design sub-disciplines according to their career aspirations, such as service design and AR/VR design. The course was able to equip future designers with the skills, knowledge and critical lenses necessary to translate critical perspectives into practical action and to create social and environmental values not only for organisations but also for society and the environment. This new course structure not only enhances students' understanding of design management but also prepares them to tackle complex societal issues through innovative and sustainable design practices as design managers or designer-entrepreneurs.