salt – the next step in the evolution of design education

Today’s world appears fast-paced, complex, and unpredictable, and we are confronted with instability, overload, and uncertainty on all levels. Climate change, fragile political and economic systems, a rapidly changing society – we’ve become subjects to globally networked crisis in need of creative and innovative answers.
Students of design and designers fresh from university don’t possess a lot of experience to rely on in such a context. They are inevitably under-equipped to face design challenges situated at the most pressing issues of today. But even designers with years of experience may feel a sense of unease when it comes to keeping up. Transitioning to higher forms of expertise consequently becomes evermore important, but is usually left to practice, making the development of essential skills and experience to deal with this conundrum not only slow to manifest, but appropriate guidance a scarce resource.

To enable any designer to gain such understanding of the design-practice to be able to develop and apply a personal “mode of working” to convert challenges into strategies, suited for any design endeavor, I am presenting you with salt – strategies, actions, lessons, and thoughts of reflection for designing.

Salt is divided into three offerings – a publication, a kit, and a tutorial. The individual effort required for transforming one’s expertise is gradually reduced with each offering, while employing varying learning modes and support systems.
The publication, let’s designers read, contemplate, and resonate relevant topics to independently develop a personal methodology which shapes and maintains the design process through strategic thinking.
The kit, supports process facilitation, by providing a skeleton based on strategy development through backcasting, so designers have a reference to continuously relate, compare, and contrast the design process to during execution.
And the tutorial is a way of investigating the impact of strategic planning, solidifying knowledge from the publication and kit, as well as offering multi-channel learning opportunities – packages can be customized, units tailored to specific needs or demands, and support applied to real-world challenges relevant to the individual or collective.

Any of the three work, but all of them together form an innovative, powerful, and effective gateway to reflection and growth. Let’s transform how designers learn, apply, and reflect – let’s add some salt.

About the author:
Lukas G. Böckelmann is a designer, strategist, and generally an inquisitive person. He is the third generation in a family of design professionals and educators, growing up with a keen interest in how things work, what makes people tick, and how to improve the world around him.
Some years ago he started helping designers plan and execute their design processes by building a database of links, relevant to the design practice, making them available via lists, charts, and lately a website. This continuously expanding database currently contains more than 1200 links to tools, software, archives, and much, much more, all of them categorized and equipped with descriptions highlighting the exact benefits of each one.
Now with salt, developed as his MA Thesis at the Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd, he takes the next step towards a more holistic approach.