Overview

The Design Innovation and Citizenship from The Glasgow School of Art encourages a design-led critique of both the present and possible futures. The programme invites design practitioners to move beyond traditional professional roles and consider how design can be applied more broadly to imagine, shape, and support social change.

By questioning the purpose, methods, and ambitions of current design practice, you will identify opportunities for new forms of design activity. You will explore innovative ways of engaging with citizens to respond to emerging political, social, cultural, and ecological challenges. Citizenship is understood as being part of a community with the power and capacity to bring about change.

Key facts:

The programme examines how design can support people to take greater control over the circumstances and processes that shape their everyday lives, using “thinking through design” as a practical and critical tool. Importantly, the programme extends beyond human-centred and organisational perspectives to consider the impact of design on all living beings and ecological systems, recognising their “citizenship” within a broader, ecological understanding of society.

Graduates of Design Innovation & Citizenship apply their creative skills beyond consultancy or in-house design roles. They engage with complex challenges across diverse fields, including public policy, private sector enterprise, social and citizen advocacy, public sector service provision, social enterprise, and the voluntary sector.