Conference Agenda

The historical development of design research, for better or worse, has dematerialized the practice of design, shifting its focus from making tangible objects to creating values. Exemplified by design thinking, it essentially opened up a path for design to become “the third way,” on par with sciences and humanities, for people to tackle the complex problems of the practical world around us. This creates a new situation where more and more non-designers have chances of exposing themselves to the designerly ways of knowing in their own contexts, ranging from formal off-the-job training to informal on-the-job experiences that happened to require design knowledge to be successful. In such circumstances, their learning processes would become rather informal and diverse. Particularly in the latter context, what is imperative is not about evaluating how non-designers’ skills and understanding have improved against the criteria of the traditional design educations, but about how well their initial intentions and original professional competencies have reinforced and enabled in concert with designerly ways of knowing through interactions with experienced designers. This research considers the situation mentioned above could be a new field of design research, called 'design enablement.' It refers to the process where design experts consciously infuse non-designers with designerly ways of knowing, particularly in business contexts, through the use of the enablement approach, borrowed from occupational therapeutic practice.

The study aims to explore the mechanism of design enablement and propose a preliminary theoretical framework, employing action research on a case study project with a Japanese system integration firm. The result shows that the use of the enablement skills adopted from occupational therapy was evident throughout the process. Among those skills, ones that “pulls” the clients’ purposes, hopes, and interests that inform intervening experienced designers’ strategy in helping them acquire designerly way of knowing were distinct characteristics of design enablement and seemingly the defining factors of effective engagements between the clients and the design experts. As a result, the initial theoretical framework was developed, and further research directions were also proposed.

Whether there should be a national design policy or strategy in Scotland has been a subject of discussion by several initiatives led by academics, industry and public sector bodies since 2014. However, without structural support, or a sustainable mechanism for involving design sector representatives in developing a national approach to design, there was a lack of capacity to progress priorities.

In response to these challenges, V&A Dundee (Scotland’s Design Museum) expanded its role in 2021 to become Scotland's National Center for design, thereby catalyzing the ‘Design for Scotland’ initiative: the first stage of which was an independent research project to explore strategies for strengthening the design sector and potentially developing a national design policy.

This paper presents findings from this independent research conducted on behalf of V&A Dundee and led by a consortium of consultancies: Graft Design and Innovation Management Ltd., Studio Andthen Ltd. and how2glu Ltd; and funded by Creative Scotland (the national agency that supports arts, screen and creative industries). It involved engaging stakeholders through various activities using a Design Futures approach, including envisioning future scenarios for Scottish design and soliciting input through interactive gamified surveys. These efforts sought to foster dialogue and identify key priorities within the sector.

Our findings underscore the significance of adopting a Design Futures approach and highlight the importance of engaging diverse stakeholders. In the absence of a designated National Design Agency, our research emphasizes the need for collective leadership to shape the trajectory of the sector, drawing inspiration from successful models in other European countries to forge a distinctive approach for Scotland.

This paper provides a glimpse into our research efforts and invites further discussion on the role of collective leadership in advancing national design efforts; including the potential contribution and limitations of a Design Futures approach to enabling conversations about the future of design easier to engage with and shape.