In the first of a series of articles on design education and the public sector, Sabine Junginger takes a look at the current state of play and argues that closer integration between the two fields is necessary.

Around the world, design is emerging as an essential activity that not only produces consumer goods but also leads to a range of important design outcomes in the public sector – in the form of public services and public policies.

Yet, there is surprisingly little information available on how different design skills, different design methods or even different modes of design thinking can support policymakers, public managers and the many civil servants involved in these design activities. In addition, the question of what kind of design education is relevant for the public sector has yet to be answered.

There is surprisingly little information available on how different design skills, different design methods or even different modes of design thinking can support policymakers and public managers.

Interest in what design education might look like for policymakers and policy implementers has been expressed by participants at the OECD conference on Public Sector Innovation in Paris (November 2014); by the organizers of the Helsinki-Design Driven City (January 2015); at the Roundtable of Schools of Government in Dubai (February 2015); at the conference on Design Thinking for Public Good (Munich Feb 2015) and also as part of the launch of Red Abierto and the assessment of Agentes de Innovaçion (February 2015) by CIDE and the Mexican government in Mexico City.

Organisations like Nesta have already begun to develop their own educational approaches tailored to the needs of the public sector and the challenges civil servants face. No less remarkable are the many design initiatives undertaken by various public innovation labs on the local, regional and national government level. Most of these have begun their design journey by touring design schools, visiting design studios and engaging with early successes like MindLab in Copenhagen. They have set out to learn about the design methods and practices that they need to develop and foster within their own specific organisation, and to find out what it takes to do so.

Sophisticated design education relevant to the public sector is needed, but that traditional design schools and design research are not having much of a role in advancing design in these areas.

Many of these public innovation labs have begun to advance their own internal design capabilities, and they’ve often had to do so so without much support of design educators or design researchers. It is an indication that sophisticated design education relevant to the public sector is needed, but that traditional design schools and design research are not having much of a role in advancing design in these areas. The recent LabWorks conference at Nesta, which had a noticeable absence of design researchers and design educators, merely confirms this situation.

But why should this be a problem? I argue that, as much goodwill and effort as the labs are demonstrating and are putting forth, design research and design education could support them by building and providing a broader foundation of their work. I also argue that if we fail to pull together the knowledge from these different initiatives, we miss an opportunity to understand design better, we miss an opportunity to create new and much needed design programmes, and we ultimately fail to support the kinds of innovation that are necessary and right now very possible to achieve.

Leaving design education to the innovation labs is not sustainable

Leaving design education to the innovation labs is not sustainable for several reasons: firstly because every public innovation lab, in fact any innovation initiative actively seeking to effect changes in the way we make and implement policies, has to satisfy a myriad of demands at the same time. They have to worry about the operational aspects of their initiative, they have to concern themselves with political and strategic justifications, and they have to do actual project work in order to be able to deliver ‘proof’ – more often than not in a ridiculous amount of time.

It is also not sustainable, even if the above miraculously does all get done. The public sector is huge. There is currently an immense need for people who can bridge design with policy, policy with design. Yet, there are hardly any programmes in Public Policy that introduce future policymakers and public managers to design thinking or methods of design. There are also hardly any design programmes that seriously engage with policy issues and prepare students to work within a government environment.[2]

Business, once again, seems to have a leg up on the public sector: a number of business and management schools have integrated design-related courses into their MBA programs. Some offer collaborations with design schools, design consultancies or design programs. But most of these familiarise students with the process of designing and developing products and services for sale or to be consumed. Design education beyond products and services – that is design education that explores design as a specific form of professional practice – remains a rarity, although programmes that centre on ‘managing as designing’ (Boland and Collopy 2004) or ‘designing business’ (Junginger and Faust, forthcoming) are heading this direction.[3]

As this Design for Europe blog series continues, I will explain why we need new approaches to design education, what they may look like and what they may mean for different professional programmes, ranging from traditional design schools to business schools to policy schools. Stay posted, and share your thoughts and experiences!

[1] CIDE is preparing a book on the project.
[2] The California College of Art offers an MBA in Civic Innovation that combines ‘professional skills, policy contexts, sustainable values, and design-thinking techniques’. Policy schools are experimenting with design electives, for example at the Heinz School of Policy in the US and at the Hertie School of Governance in Germany.
[3] The references are for Boland, R. and Collopy, F. (2004) Managing as Designing, CA: Stanford University Press and for Junginger, S. and Faust, J. (forthcoming) Designing Business, Bloomsbury, UK.

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