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