Bridging Design and Economics: A PSI Framework Analysis of Residency Matching Market Evolution
Summer 2025
This paper addresses a divide: economics and design remain largely disconnected despite shared concerns about shaping products, services, and social systems. We propose that bridging design theory and...
DesignS: World Design Cities Shanghai Manifesto 2024, with an Introduction by Yongqi Lou and John Thackara
Summer 2025
The DesignS: World Design Cities Shanghai Manifesto 2024 redefines the role of design in addressing contemporary polycrises—from climate collapse to AI-driven societal shifts—by advocating for a human-nature...
Worun: Feeling Safer by Design. Reflections on Gender Inequalities in Female Urban Running
Summer 2025
The Worun: Feeling Safer by Design project addresses gender-based disparities in urban running among women in Chile, presenting a design-led solution to improve safety and reduce perceived vulnerability....
Contributors
Summer 2025
A Design Management Tool for Product Development in SMEs: The Integrated Design Management (IDM) Tool
Summer 2025
Compelling evidence highlights the importance of good design in driving company success. However, in manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), good design practices and competencies are...
Shaping Entrepreneurial Design Identity in Design Education
Spring 2025
This article employs social identity theory and findings from research on design identity, entrepreneurial identity, and entrepreneurship education to discuss transdisciplinary design education at the...
Wicked Problems: Flexible Characterizations and Visual Representations
Spring 2025
The term “wicked problem” is used to describe a wide range of challenges that defy definition or resolution. These descriptions often reference Rittel and Webber’s 1973 publication, repeatedly listing...
The Cross-pollination Approach: Conditions for Incubating and Cascading Collaborative Civic Design Initiatives
Spring 2025
Integrative civic leadership, which builds on the capabilities of individuals and organizations across sectors and communities, is essential to sustainable and inclusive placemaking. The article explores...
Contributors
Spring 2025
Realizing Accessible and Environmentally Sustainable Medical Devices in Low-Resource Healthcare Settings in Sub-Saharan Africa: Personal Narrative of the Designer’s Roles and Competencies
Spring 2025
This personal narrative outlines my evolving roles and competencies as a designer in developing a reusable medical device for low-resource healthcare settings in sub-Saharan Africa. The region suffers...
Isotype in Mexico: The Untold Story
Spring 2025
This article explores the influence of the International System of Typographic Education (Isotype) in Mexico during the 1930s. It reveals how social scientist Dr. Otto Neurath’s pictorial system of...
“We Cultivate Children’s Skillsets”: Figurations of the User’s Body in Design for Play
Winter 2024
In design for children’s play, the user’s body occupies a central position, not only because of the ever-changing bodily dimensions and skills of child users but because play is seen as a key driver...
The Future End of Design Work: A Critical Overview of Managerialism, Generative AI, and the Nature of Knowledge Work, and Why Craft Remains Relevant
Winter 2024
This article examines the transformation of design work under the influence of managerialism and the rise of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI). Drawing on John Maynard Keynes’s projections...
Ill-Defined Problems in Wicked Learning Environments
Winter 2024
Many of today’s global problems are complex and difficult to solve—some may even be impossible. They are characterized by interconnectedness, non-linear causality, and a lack of clear solutions or definitive...
Responsible Use of Large Language Models: An Analogy with the Oxford Tutorial System
Winter 2024
In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, large language models (LLMs) have emerged as powerful tools with the potential to revolutionize how we process information, generate content,...
Contributors and Acknowledgment to Referees 2024
Winter 2024
Dealing with Wicked Problems: Normative Paradigms for Design Thinking
Winter 2024
Wicked problems, such as climate change, poverty, and antibiotic resistance, are ethical problems, as moral plurality about the social good is one of their constituting factors. Although wicked problems...
Value Dimensions in Creative Collaborations for Social Innovation
Autumn 2024
Designers are increasingly involved in creative multi-stakeholder collaborations for social innovation, developing interventions to address complex societal challenges. Traditional impact measurement...
Creating and Testing a Guideline for Governing Blockchain Ecosystems: A Study Informed by Design Science
Autumn 2024
The rise of blockchain technology implies a paradigm shift for many industries, especially those traditionally relying on third parties—such as banks, publishers, and art galleries—to establish trust...