Design thinking has become a cornerstone of 21st-century education and is emphasized across both design and non-design disciplines. Studies have long criticized design thinking as ambiguous because it has diverse definitions and employs a range of methodologies. Recently, the concept of design literacy has entered the literature. It is proposed that design literacy can foster the potential of design thinking to promote the development of the “new literacies” needed to drive change and transformation in an age facing global challenges such as climate change, technological transformations, and social inequality. This article highlights key themes from an international symposium exploring design’s foundational role in education, its connection to visual thinking and reasoning, the potential of interdisciplinary problem-solving, the human and social dimensions of design thinking, and the importance of design literacy for effective communication and collaboration among designers. This symposium is part of a broader research project based at Özyeğin University, Turkey, investigating how to cultivate design literacy knowledge and skills in early undergraduate curricula to foster an interdisciplinary and trans-professional learning environment before professional specialization.
Yorgancıoğlu et al. (Thu,) studied this question.