As a young designer, you have the power to lead a new wave of effective climate action

Nobody is raising their voices louder about the environmental crisis than us — the young people. And as problem-solving designers, we’re capable of imagining solutions for a more sustainable future. But how can we know where to start on those solutions if our education only centers around design fundamentals like typography or color theory? Our design education should be giving us the tools to enact positive social change. And if you agree, you can have a role in making sure it does.

We want to know your thoughts on your current design education, what you think when you hear the term “sustainable design,” and how you see climate change playing a role in your future career. You can take our five-question survey, or if you know you have a lot to say on the topic, go ahead and schedule a one-on-one interview with Rachel, recent graduate and lead researcher of the project.

Give us your thoughts so we can shape a new wave of climate design education, meant to empower you to take action on the climate crisis as soon as you receive your diploma – or maybe even sooner.

What other students are saying

“We constantly have to be thinking about what material waste people are putting back out into the environment.”

“We hold the power of choosing who produces our stuff…that power doesn’t just lie with the company. It also lies with you and what you think should be happening with your product.”

“Designers have a responsibility to just do better”

“Each of the things we produce as designers has some kind of impact that we need to think about before we even open the Adobe program of choice.”

“The responsibility of graphic designers is probably supporting things that are right and doing your best work for those things that are right.”

“Use the power you have, this awesome gift you have of art, to support something that is making a difference”

Share the survey

We wanted to make it super easy for you to share this research project. That’s why we’ve created this Student Outreach Kit.

In the kit you’ll find important links to the survey and interview sign-up. There's also an email draft you can send to professors and administrators to enact change on your own campus, and social media images and captions (so you can share with all your Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn friends) with the hashtags we’re using.

Happy sharing!

FAQ

  • It’s a five-question survey meant to understand how design students perceive sustainability within the design industry and how climate change might play a role in their future careers. Students will be asked questions about their perceptions of businesses performing CSR (corporate social responsibility), how climate change might impact their future career, and where they see design’s role in social issues like climate change.

  • If we can teach students how to design for a sustainable world, we will be one step closer to enacting real and powerful climate action. To do that, though, we need to know what students already think about sustainable design, and what we need to teach them. This research will help answer that. It will inform the CD EDU initiative to develop effective climate design education that professors can easily transfer to their classrooms.

  • Students can opt-in for a one-on-one with Rachel at the end of the survey, or sign up for an interview before taking the survey. She’ll contact them to set up a time for a 30-minute virtual call, where she will ask them about their answers and questions that expand upon the survey.

  • Answers will be recorded and analyzed for common themes among students and will be studied to find relationships between different themes (for example, finding the relationship between their feelings on their current design education and their perceptions of sustainable design). The answers students give will be stored for as long as the research project continues.

  • Yes. Students will not be required to disclose their name or university, and their email will not be linked to their answers. However, students can opt to provide their preferred area of design, their university’s size and type (private/public), and their email if they wish to sign up for a one-on-one with Rachel to discuss their answers in more detail.

  • This research will inform the CD EDU initiative to bring climate design into their classrooms. That being said, the outcomes that are possible from this research include a climate design course, a series of climate design projects, a roadmap for tying climate design into mainstream design pedagogy, or even a toolkit for students to take back to their home institutions to advocate for climate design education.

Get in touch with Rachel if you have any other questions, rachelcifarelli@gmail.com

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