Good Designers do “X”: Embracing the breadth of design practices

Abstract

Good Designers do “X” is a collection of responses from 35 scholars and educators from the design and engineering design education research communities about what “good” designers do. The collection features 180 shortened statements derived from full responses provided by each respondent. The collection was first developed in February 2022 by researchers at the Center for Engineering Learning & Teaching (CELT) in the University of Washington Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE). As part of a seminar called Dear Design in HCDE, the teaching team crowdsourced responses to a query about Good Designers do “X” in order to provide a broad picture of what could be characterized as effective design practices. The collection can be found online in the teaching resources section of our website, designsignatures.org, and comes in multiple virtual or printable formats for engagement with the collection. The full list of responses can be found in Appendices A and B. This report provides several ways to understand the collection as a whole, a brief outline of three classroom activities that used the Good Designers do “X” collection, and an example of a longer engagement where students drew inspiration from the collection to create postcard visualizations. We believe Good Designers do “X” is a valuable resource to broaden students’ understanding of design.