An Impact-Centred Tool for Developing Design Students’ Capacity for Sustainable Transformation

Abstract

At their course’s final years, both undergraduate and postgraduate design students are often presented with a pool of topics that they can select from to work on their major/final project. Some students struggle first with making this choice, and then, after the work is submitted, marked and the degree is completed, they have to deal with the frustration of leaving such projects behind and totally inconsequential. This may happen because the student is not oriented towards reflecting on how each of the possible topics to choose from can become a more or less impactful project 1) during the remainder of their studies, 2) for their professional development and future employability, and 3) in terms of supporting/helping a wider community, by solving a problem common to many. After analysing 35 generative boards/canvases retrieved from a diversity of professional sources, a taxonomy for the design of this kind of visual tools was optimised and a visual board—the Impact Plan—is proposed. It aims at obviating the lack of reflection on the moment of choosing a project, providing students with a matching process between their interpretation of the available or most interesting projects from said pool, and their motivations, capacities, ambitions, levels of altruism and perception of value. A low-fidelity prototype was designed and tested with academics and careers/placements officers. The tool triggered immediate interest, for which reason it is currently being implemented as alternative assessment (due to the recent COVID-19 disruptions) in a postgraduate academic context.