Beyond Concepts - a Studio Pedagogy for Preparing Tomorrow’s Designers

In an increasingly complex world, university education should balance teaching students the skills and intricacies of their field while enabling them to discover their authenticity and place in the world. The questions are: “How can design education respond to this challenge?” and “Where in the curriculum?” This paper supports that the conceptual design phase can be the forum in which students explore who they are and what they aspire to be. Developed and communicated with both written and visual elaborations, concepts can spark a dialogue around the opportunities that arise when conceptual design enables students to make a difference.