DESIGN

Design is one of the six high-concept, high-touch senses that Daniel H. Pink discusses in his book, A Whole New Mind. According to Pink, mastering right-brained directed aptitudes in conjunction with left-brain reasoning, is essential to the development of the whole new mind in the new era, the Conceptual Age. Included in the left directed, high-concept, high touch category are design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning.

John Heskett, a scholar of the subject, says, “Design, stripped to its essence, can be defined as the human nature to shape and make our environment in ways without precedent in nature to serve our needs and give meaning to our lives.” Looking around in our environment, one can see the numerous ways that design takes shape. Each example demonstrates that someone has conceived an idea and created it. Furniture, for example, incorporates utility and significance. Creating functional furniture represents utility and adding appeal to the furniture represents significance. Pink likens utility to L-Directed Thinking and Significance to R-Directed Thinking.
“It’s not true that what is useful is beautiful. It is what is beautiful that is useful. Beauty can improve people’s way of life and thinking.”-Anna Castelli Ferrieri, a furniture designer.

Design, utility enhanced by significance, is essential for personal fulfillment and professional success. Due to rising prosperity and technology, the fruits of design are easily accessible allowing more people to enjoy it. High fashion and mass merchandising have converged. Target sells affordable clothing created by designer Isaac Mizrahi. The designer no longer designs just for the elite. Businesses use design to create new markets and differentiate their products. When looking at the present day industry of ring tones or cell phones or faceplates for cell phones one can not help but recognize that these industries were non- existent years ago.
Good design can change the world and good design can inherently change the way students are educated.

Pink sites the success of the Charter High School for Architecture and Design, a tuition-free public school in Philadelphia attributing its success to the power of design and its effects on the students’ minds. The population consisted of predominately African American and other minority students of which one third were functioning on a third grade reading and math level and most never took an art class. Based upon the results of the current senior class, it was expected that 80 percent would continue their education in two and four year colleges. The daily rate of attendance at a typical Philadelphia public high school was 63%; at CHAD it was 95%. Design was incorporated throughout CHAD’s core curriculum, allowing students to develop their ability to solve problems, understand others, and appreciate the world around them, all necessary skills to succeed in the Conceptual Age. The Design and Architecture Senior High in Miami, The High School of Art and Design in New York City, and the elementary school, The Studio School in Washington, DC are other schools with design-centered curriculum. In the United Kingdom, design students increased 35 % from 1995-2002. Japan, South Korea and Singapore have twenty-three design schools, where as thirty-five years ago, they did not have any.

Pink offers suggestions to the layman to deepen the understanding of and practical application of the concept of design. Some of the following practices could be incorporated into the school setting.
1.) Carry a small notebook and record examples of good design and flawed design. Carry a digital camera and take pictures of good and bad design. This will develop keener observation skills and greater acuity.
2.) Think of a design that is annoying. Take the time to think of ways to improve it and send the suggestions to the manufacturer.
3.) Look through professional design magazines to sharpen the eye and inspire the mind.
4.) Follow the designer, Karim Rahid’s 50 “Karimanifestos”. Some examples being, Consume experience, not things. Normal is not good. Experience is the most important part of living, and the exchange of ideas and human contact is all life really is. Space and objects can encourage increased experiences or distract from our experiences.
5.) Become a design detective. Go to open houses and look at the design trends and commonalities, and the uniqueness of some homes. Determine the appeal on an emotional level or a physical level. Look at someone’s workplace. Get an idea of what feelings it conjures up. Think of the productivity and communication that occurs in the particular environment and how to incorporate some design elements into one’s workplace.
6.) Customers already expect original objects, as is the case when designing their own Nike and Vans skate shoes on line.
7.) Visit Design Museums to deepen design sensibility.
8.) Follow design writer, Robin William’s principles; Contrast. (Make elements type, color, size, line thickness, shape and space very different). Repetition. (repeating visual elements “helps develop the organization and strengthens the unity” of a brochure, newsletter or letterhead. Alignment. “Nothing should be placed on the page arbitrarily. Every element should have some visual connection with another element on the page. Proximity. “Items relating to each other should be grouped close together.”
9.) Apply the suggestions of Dan Buchner, director of industrial design, Design Continuum. Find an object that is meaningful. Ask the following questions: What does it make you think of? Past experiences? The person who made it? How does the object affect each of your five senses? Think of how you have connected the sensory clues you receive from the object to the way you think and feel about it. Can you see the connections you have made? Try this exercise with other objects that you do not have a connection with. Do they trigger an emotional response? Developing the ability to consciously select designs that connect with personal emotions help one to surround oneself with meaningful, satisfying objects and not just more stuff.
10.) Think of the ideas of Marney Morris, founder and president of Animatrix and an instructor in interactive design at Stanford University. Choose things that will endure and are pleasurable to use. Never let things be more important than family, friends and one’s own spirit.

Implementing the above practices of design in a school setting would help students develop keen observation skills, knowledge about themselves and the environment around them. Students would be able to hone in on their creative, right directed thinking skills and incorporate their knowledge of design when blogging, adding information to websites or wikis, creating videos, working on power point presentations and other project based learning assignments. Some students might enjoy Google’s Sketch-Up and other graphic design websites that encourage creative thinking. Other students might enjoy Web 2.0 websites and software programs such as Flash, Fireworks and Photoshop to create logos, animations, banners, and videos- all means to demonstrate student knowledge and application of their understanding of educational concepts.

Below is an example of design and the positive impact Google’s Sketch-Up has on students with Autism


Creating quiet time for student reflection, journal writing on their reflections, creating time to discuss reflections, visiting museums, leafing through design magazines, thinking about the school environment, applying design concepts to the school environment, looking for ways to improve on a flawed design and requiring group projects, would be a practical application and assimilation of design. In addition, requiring student presentations to be in the form of technology and media would allow for good design. Since time is crucial in the educational setting, this project can be stretched out throughout the year and incorporated into the curriculum while following NETS guidelines and time frames of due dates.


With the application of design sensibility students can move away from teacher-centered learning and move towards a learner-centered environment. It creates the opportunity for students to have a say in their own education. It fosters diverse, multiple learning styles and provides an opportunity for students to be engaged in problem solving, analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating. It demonstrates a way for students to learn the interconnectedness of concepts and the world that they live in rather than simply memorizing facts to achieve good grades. It can further develop both left and right directed thinking and elevate student understanding.

The following video is a superb example of creative, adapted curriculum and multiple learning styles demonstrating how design can change education.


Universal Design for Learning, (UDL) is an important aspect of design to consider when educating students with special need in the 21st century. Classrooms are made up of such a diverse population that educators struggle to meet the needs of all students. Students with disabilities have many different learning styles and need flexible instructional material to succeed. The shift of focus has changed from the burden falling on the student and their disability to the viewing of the curriculum and its limitations. Assistive Technology rises from this position, as it aids in focusing on a comprehensive educational plan for students with special needs.
To go one step further than Pink’s left and right directed thinking, recent research in neuroscience demonstrates that each brain processes information differently. Recognition, Strategic and Affective Networks are the three primary brain networks that The Center for Applied Special Technology, (CAST), has identified. The roles that they play in learning are: Recognition networks gather facts, identify and categorize, the “what” of learning, Strategic networks organize and express ideas, the “how”, and the Affective networks, how students are engaged and motivated, the “why” of learning.


View the four short videos on Universal Design for Learners.
http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/window.php?src=videos

With this knowledge, UDL principles can be applied by giving learners various ways of acquiring information, providing alternatives for demonstrating what they know and to challenge them appropriately and motivate them to learn. This gives educators the opportunity to apply design sensibility to the curriculum and to apply one of the five disciplines, Personal Mastery discussed in Peter Senge’s book, Schools That Learn. It is the responsibility of the educator to recognize the interests and motivations and capitalize on them to further encourage their students to learn. Inherent in that responsibility is the awareness that each student needs to achieve their own personal mastery with their own individual learning style. It is a commitment to step aside and become a coach in a student-centered learning environment and allow for meaningful, higher learning to take place.