Participatory Design in Design Education: contributions of a Project class

Nowadays, Design has explored more complex situations which demands a systemic view involving aspects beyond physical characteristics of objects and their production. However, most of education paths in design still focus on technical or technological solutions and, many times, fictional, in disregard of contexts or real demands. The Participatory Design represents a potential way of transformation of this path from the direct contact with communities. This work discusses the learnings of a compulsory Project class of the Design course of the Federal University of Uberlandia, with a participatory approach. The results reinforce the importance of Project activities that articulate theory and practices to raise students’ awareness trhough living with different life experiences, thus contribution to the generation of more viable and contextualized future solutions, with greater social impact.