Shaping inclusive futures with your design career

Are you a design student embarking on a new journey? Wondering where your skills can take you and the impact you can make? In this blog post, I explore design careers with a focus on inclusive futures. I’ll start by summarising the insights from a Careers and Employability Service event at OU in March 2024, featuring a diverse panel of designers, and offer some additional pointers to build your career with OU resources.

Our March event brought together a dynamic panel of design professionals, including:

• Gareth Thomas, Product Designer, XDesign
• Rachel Wood, Service Design Lead, Local Government & OU PhD Researcher
• Sam Osys, Customer Journey Framework Lead Consultant, NatWest & OU PhD Researcher
• Rebecca Davies, Senior Recruiter, Arup

The panel discussed the evolving landscape of design careers, with a strong emphasis on accessibility, inclusion, and emerging trends. Here are some key takeaways:

• Inclusive design takes centre stage: The demand for designing with accessibility and inclusion in mind is growing rapidly across private and public sectors.
• Rise of service design: Service design is becoming an increasingly important field, focusing on user experience across different touchpoints.
• Data storytelling: Working with diverse audiences and creating compelling data visualisations are essential skills for designers who want to effectively communicate design ideas.
• Responsible tech integration: The responsible integration of new technologies like AI, VR, and 3D modelling is crucial. As Sam Osys emphasises, “people are wanting to have more customised interactions with the technology that they use, both digital and kind of in real life”
• Sustainability and ethics: Companies are prioritising sustainability, circular economy principles, and ethical practices. Design roles will play a key role in shaping these initiatives.

Gareth Thomas highlights that design careers are dynamic and ever evolving. You might start as a product designer, but your skills can take you in diverse directions.  Transferable skills like teamwork and leadership are invaluable, allowing you to adapt your design process to tackle various challenges.

The OU’s new BDes Bachelor of Design degree equips you with the knowledge and skills mentioned by the panel. Whether you’re starting your design journey or looking to upskill, explore the program!

You can gain further insights from the experts by watching the full panel discussion here:

If you are just starting out as an OU student, there are several tools available for you from the Careers and Employability Service to plan your career journey. For example you can orientate yourself with our Navigate Your Future activity pathway, which makes the process of working out your goals and next steps simpler. It’s designed to build your confidence and help you progress towards your goals at your own pace.

Careers and Employability Service also offer confidence pages, which highlight some key resources and practical activities to help grow your confidence in your career or personal development.