Analysis of the mixed-methods research approach–including literature reviews, curriculum analysis, survey data, and 24 semi-structured interviews–indicated that climate resilient design methodology is rarely taught in visual communication curricula because it is not physically substantial in nature, is considered academically separate from design, and professors feel unprepared to teach it.
These findings were synthesized into three interconnected frameworks that bridge theory, curriculum structure, and practical implementation. The 7 Mindsets of Climate Resilient Designers are student-facing learning objectives that define knowledge and practices necessary to build climate resilience, such as systems thinking, ethical responsibility, and resource stewardship. The 5 Levels of Sustainability Pedagogy in Design Education reflect degrees of student engagement with sustainable concepts and practices within the context of curriculum; from sustainability as passive content to sustainability as critical inquiry. Finally, the project’s design guidelines support instructors in practical application of the Shifts.
The frameworks informed the development of The Shift Deck: 27 small steps–or Shifts–educators can take to include climate resilient strategies in their assignments. Refined through interactive prototyping and student-centered co-design workshops, this bottom-up approach allows educators to advocate for climate resilient design practices without completely overhauling their pedagogy.
Built on prior work in sustainable design and pedagogy, including McDonough and Braungart’s Cradle to Cradle and David W. Orr’s Ecological Literacy, The Shift Deck offers conceptual frameworks and practical tools to position climate resilience as an accessible and actionable dimension of contemporary visual communication design education.
Keywords: Climate literacy, climate resilience, design pedagogy, design research, pedagogical tools, sustainability in design education, visual communication design
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How to use the Shift Deck
5 Levels of Sustainability Pedagogy in Design Education
The 7 Mindsets of Climate Resilient Designers
Compatible courses
MINDSETS
Beyond Human-Centered
Systems & Transitions
Economy
Engagement with Policy
Honesty & Optimism
Hyper-Localization
Trans-Disciplinary
THE KNOWLEDGEBASE
The Shift Deck Knowledge Base on Notion
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Learning Objective
Students develop a holistic view of their role as an interrelated part of the natural world, and are prepared to design in a way that considers and nurtures the interdependence of all life. Students learn actionable strategies to incorporate empathy for living beings and natural ecosystems into their design processes.
Biological Strategy
The deep ocean is perhaps the only place on Earth where humans are not present. Except maybe for the plastic littering the ocean floor, the ocean is a place devoid of human activity. The beings who call this place home have no concept of humanity, and get along quite fine without a notion of what exists above them. In fact, they’ll likely continue to get along just fine until well after we’re gone. They operate in a space that is truly beyond human-centered.
Recognizing our true place in nature gives us new responsibilities. We discover that caring for the natural world is the same as caring for ourselves. It also opens up new opportunities: by synergizing with nature, instead of opposing it, we can release enormous creative potential. That is what launches a new era of design.”
- Bruce Mau in MC24, page 137
We think about resources like trees, oil; all that, right? But there’s also the aspect of labor, we extract so much labor from poor countries. Women in our country, unpaid grad students, we extract things. So, how do you instead build communities where it’s much more of a mutual benefit than it is extractive?”
- Design Professor, Interview #22
Learning Objective
Students will be able to apply systems thinking and circular design principles to their work, recognizing and embracing the complexity of the interdependent environmental, economic, social, and technical systems their work is a part of. They understand the consequences of the design field on interrelated ecosystems, and identify interventions for positive change.
Biological Strategy
Mycorrhizal fungi, small threads of mycelium that make up a vast underground network, live in a mutualistic partnership with trees and other plants. Mycelium acts as a network between trees, plants, and other fungi, sending water, chemicals, and signals throughout the forest. If a larger tree has an oversupply of nutrients, mycelium shuttles the extra to other trees and plants that may have a deficiency. If a tree is being attacked by a pest, it can send out a warning through the mycelial network, allowing other trees to bolster their defenses. These networks help forests function by optimizing resource sharing to benefit the whole ecosystem.
If we’re making trash, we should at least figure out what to do with it at the end, or try to, or do our best to. And unfortunately, the systems in place that I can rely on to do that for me? They don’t do it right.”
- Professional Designer, Interview #3
We no longer are doing just chairs, logos, posters, dresses, and packaging. Instead, we are developing experiences, platforms, services, organizations, and communities, often on a global scale.”
- Manuel Lima in The New Designer, Page 34
Learning Objective
Students will be able to manage visual, physical, and digital assets for the purpose of resource sustainability. They will assess and utilize methods for sustainable ink and paper usage, digital carbon footprint measurement, and can justify design solutions based on economy of use and impact.
Biological Strategy
Leafcutter ant colonies have a strategy to economically transport and distribute leaf cuttings. Forager ants collect leaf cuttings and bring them back to the colony, where processor ants collect and distribute the cuttings. You would think that a leafcutter ant would want to bring back the largest cutting possible, but the ants have an efficient strategy. There are more forager ants than processor ants, so the forager ants have to bring leaves back at a steady pace so that the processor ants don’t get overwhelmed. Forager ants travel in a single-file line; if one ant is carrying too heavy a load they could slow the entire line. The ants transport leaf cuttings that are the optimum size to maintain a steady traveling speed and a reasonable workload for the processor ants.
By the time a design goes into manufacturing, it is usually too late to make the production process more efficient. The designer needs to learn about manufacturing processes and plan ahead.”
- Brian Dougherty in Green Graphic Design, page 104
But designing sustainably–I don’t think I really do that because it would mean I was very efficient, right? Using the least resources possible. But right now, I take a lot of time to design stuff.”
- Design Student, Interview #7
Learning Objective
Students will recognize relationships between design and policy, and advocate for and support environmental and climate policy through design. They will assess how their design practice can align with civic, cultural, and environmental climate goals.
Biological Strategy
When a beehive has reached its capacity, it becomes necessary for some members of the hive to relocate. Rather than just sending bees away, scout bees leave their home hive to search for a suitable second location. When a scout finds a nice spot, he returns to the hive and uses a complicated dance to communicate the location and desirability of the potential new hive. Interested bees fly out and gather to assess the proposed site. When the number of bees gathered at a location reaches about 15, the group heads back to the main hive to announce that they’ve decided on a new location. Honeybees engage with new hive policy to vote by quorum on a site for a second hive.
When business executives, collaborators, and legislators fail to value sustainability, designers must use communication and leadership skills to convince them.”
- Sustainability in the Future of Design Education, page 160
At the end of the day, there’s so much that rides on policy. And this is where designers are very often completely in the dark, at least coming out of design school.”
- Design Professor, Interview #22
Learning Objective
Students will practice identifying and avoiding instances of bias, dishonest marketing strategies, and unethical design practices. They develop the ability to identify opportunities for positive change, and reflect on design’s ability to innovatively shape
culture and environment.
Biological Strategy
Nest building is a carefully considered, evolving process. Birds choose nesting sites based on past brood success, weather, predators, and the actions of their bird neighbors. If a brood fails, the mother bird will consider the factors that led to that failure and choose a more appropriate nesting site next season. Birds are honest about their nests’ shortcomings and optimistic about raising a successful brood the next season.
There is no natural symbol more optimistic than an egg: a small, fragile shell holding a future generation.
Going back to the concept of greenwashing–the fact that corporations are taking advantage of something that is supposed to be enacting actual change and then just using that to make things worse or make them look better... Makes me feel betrayed.”
- Design Student, Interview #11
Maybe climate change doesn’t come with this mega responsibility to fix, but as a beautiful opportunity to think again.”
- Anne Therese Gennari, The Climate Optimist Masterclass
Learning Objective
Students of design collaborate across disciplines, integrating innovative scientific, environmental, and sociological research and diverse perspectives into their design processes. They approach complex challenges with a multidisciplinary mindset, leveraging methodologies such as co-design and participatory design to co-create impactful and sustainable design solutions.
Biological Strategy
Black-capped chickadees use a warning call–it sounds like “seet”–
to warn other chickadees of a predator in the area. The warning call is so high-pitched and faint that predators, such as owls or hawks, can’t hear it. Chickadees who make this call are giving their fellows an effective advance warning. Other species, including nuthatches, jays, squirrels, and chipmunks also recognize this warning call and will take cover when they hear it. By utilizing this trans-disciplinary warning system, these small animals can spend more of their precious time foraging and less time on alert for predators.
So I think even the idea of collaboration and working with people who have more expertise or different skill sets isn’t emphasized enough in undergraduate and graduate level work.”
- Design Professor, Interview #17
I really, firmly believe in connection with other disciplines. I think design is almost like a tool that is part of this broader toolkit, which is like all of these great minds and all of these different people communicating and thinking together about how to solve these really large scale problems.”
- Design Professor, Interview #23
Learning Objective
Students understand that the biggest impact they can make in climate resilience is in their immediate community, and are familiar with the local environment, culture, indigenous practices, waste management, and supply chain. Living sustainably during climate change will require adaptations to particular places and ways of being that may not scale or travel well.
Every evening, thousands of starlings take to the sky in one huge flock, creating massive, undulating forms called murmurations. The birds race and dive in extremely close proximity–sometimes only inches from each other. Scientists have found that in order for the birds to move so cohesively when presented with the uncertainty of the movements of thousands of other birds, they only need to pay attention to their seven closest neighbors. By limiting their focus to their immediate surroundings, the birds are able to make complicated movements without disrupting their neighbors. This hyper-localization results in beautiful, complex movements with fluidity and coordination.
Sustainability will not come primarily from homogenized top-down approaches but from the careful adaptation of people to particular place.
- David W. Orr in Ecological Literacy, page 33
What ethical connection does your work have with the world around you?
- Design Professor, Interview #21
How to use the Shift Deck
Each card describes a Shift: something a student can do or learn within the context of an existing design project or assignment that will support climate resilience.
Educators can incorporate a Shift into an existing project or assignment, or use a Shift as inspiration to design a new one. Each Shift is aligned with one of the 5 Levels of Sustainability Pedagogy to help educators discern the level of engagement with climate resilient methodology the shift provides, and each Shift also belongs to one of seven Mindsets of Climate Resilient Designers. Written as learning objectives, these describe knowledge and practice the mindset embodies while being assessible by the educator.
WHO IS THIS DECK FOR
The deck is designed for postsecondary educators of visual communication design, but any designer could apply these Shifts to their own work.
COMPATIBLE COURSES
Any individual Shift may be better suited for certain types of design courses than others. Courses are organized into the following categories:
Context: Design history, contextual studies, critical issues
Core: Design fundamentals: intro, typography, identity, type and image
Digital: UI/UX, web design, motion graphics
Editorial: book, magazine, publication design
Experiential: Designing physical spaces: environmental, exhibition, experiential, wayfinding
Print: Prepress and production, packaging design, and print methods
Research: Design research, human factors, or design thinking
5 Levels of Sustainability Pedagogy in Design Education
CONTENT
Sustainability as passive content. Educators provide students with content for layout that speaks directly to the climate crises or other sustainability issues. This passively brings the content to the student’s attention, but doesn’t invite any further consideration.
MESSAGE
Climate resilience delivered as a message. Students may be asked to design a project that promotes a message or idea about ecological sustainability–this is usually a data visualization, poster, or awareness campaign.
MATERIAL
Sustainability as a material concern. Students learn about sustainable production practices, local recycling requirements and limitations, and explore concepts of physical and digital carbon footprints.
COMPLEXITY
Climate resilience as a lens for understanding complexity. Understanding how the systems that support us are interconnected and working to transition those systems towards more sustainable and equitable goals are often cited as key strategies for addressing climate change.
CRITICAL INQUIRY
Sustainability and climate resilience as critical inquiry. Educators may dive deeper into sustainable inquiry, exploring abstract concepts, processes, aesthetics, and societal values related to sustainability and visual communication.
The 7 Mindsets of Climate Resilient Designers
As students build and grow their design practice, they’ll be developing their own set of principles that guide their work.
Part of my thesis project focuses on getting designers to adopt climate-resilient mindsets through small shifts they can make in their design process. Mindsets, to me, feel less dogmatic than principles, and more adaptable. These seven mindsets will help designers see their work as part of an interconnected, meaningful whole. They will help designers see the impact of their work beyond a dollar figure. And they will help designers see themselves as agents of positive change in a world that’s beginning to feel a little out of control.
Each mindset is formatted as a learning objective, which is what an educator would expect their students to know and be able to do after practicing the shifts in each mindset. An objective is a broad goal(s) an educator has for their students. They are formatted in this way so that educators can easily include them in their curricula.
Each Mindset is illustrated by a biological strategy that characterizes how the Mindset is practiced in nature. Influenced by prehistoric cave paintings and the Nazca lines of Peru, the graphics employ simplified, grid-based line work that references both ancient visual tradition and modern systems thinking.
Beyond Human-Centered | Systems & Transitions | Economy | Engagement with Policy | Honesty & Optimism | Trans-Disciplinary | Hyper-Localization