Design responsibility and sustainable design as reflective practice: an educational challenge

An important element in design education is to prepare students for the reality of the profession. Often these students question their ability and power to influence industry and commerce, especially when it comes to proposing innovative and sustainable solutions. This paper discusses how the notion of design responsibility can be integrated in design education, describing ways of training and encouraging students to become responsible and sustainability‐oriented designers. Using examples from the curriculum of the Kolding School of Design in Denmark, we make a case for employing both practice‐based and theory‐based learning approaches to promote a critical and reflective design practice. Furthermore, we argue for the value of teaching design responsibility to imbue design students with the knowledge and confidence that sustainable design thinking and the designer can make a difference.