Category: Design education
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Neurodiversity and design: This world is not designed by, with or for me
Mel Green writes poignantly on OpenLearn that neurodiversity refers to the natural diversity of human minds. Brains and patterns of neurocognition vary among all individuals. These variations are normal and valuable, and they should be recognised and respected in the same way as any other human variation. Current estimates suggest that between fifteen and twenty…
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To Design or to DesAIgn ? The Generative AI Question for Design Students
Introduction to AIDED Generative AI (GenAI) is widely seen as a disruptive force across the creative industries – one that today’s design students will need to navigate in their professional life. But how do they view the use of the technology in design practice? And what role should GenAI play in shaping design education? A…
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Making the Design Wishes Tarot
The Design Wishes Tarot builds on a long tradition within the U101: Design Thinking module. For over a decade, students have been provided postcards so that they could post them back to the Open University, addressed to LOLA—’the spirit’ of the module. On these cards, they were invited to express their wishes and hopes for…
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From traffic to teaching: Lessons on informal designs from Nigeria
On my way to Nigeria, I read an article in Wallpaper* magazine (October 2025) about ‘informal designs’ in Nigeria. This felt like a coincidence because I was travelling to Lagos to give a keynote address at the 4th International Colloquium of the Distance Learning Institute at the University of Lagos. The audience included more than…
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New Book: Studio Properties
“There is something very special about the studio as a place of practice and learning” After years of research and writing, Studio Properties: A Field Guide to Design Education is now out! The book is co-authored by a team of international design educators and scholars, including myself (Derek Jones) and Nicole Lotz. It builds on…
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Designing the OU
We’ve been teaching design at the OU since its beginning in the 1970’s. So it’s always been fascinating to me how you design a thing like The Open University? And trust me, the OU was designed. If you look at the history of the the early vision and ideas for the OU, you can see…
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Campus Life_1: our green spaces
Walton Hall Campus As a 4 nation university we may sometimes forget that we have a central campus in Milton Keynes. Academics, technicians and administrators – the wearers of muddy boots on a building site in the early 1970s – today have the benefit of working in a green and diverse landscape covering 111 acres…
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Service Design in Practice: Reflections on Co-Teaching for the T190 Module
By Rachel A. Wood & Samantha Osys. Earlier this month, we had the pleasure of co-teaching a session on Service Design in Practice as part of the Open University’s T190 module. As both PhD researchers and service designers, we wanted to offer students a real-world perspective on how service design unfolds in practice. The session…
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Reflections on Mentoring in Design Practice
Once upon a time… when I was a young, carefree designer… many earth cycles ago… I found myself stuck under what they call a “glass ceiling.” I struggled to advance within my organisation until my line manager suggested I get a mentor. At the time, I had no idea what she meant. A quick search…
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Design at the Sharps End
The smell of oil and grease evokes happy memories of hours teaching in a secondary school engineering work shop, the clatter of tools and low rumble of machinery, familiar and almost homely – but there is another odour, a whiff of ozone, and this is not year seven last period on a wet Wednesday afternoon.