With the right tools, young designers can lead a new wave of effective climate action
But, first we need to ask
Where do they see themselves at the intersection of climate change and innovation?
How do they imagine that impacting their upcoming design career?
How can we teach that intersection in the classroom?
As the innovators of tomorrow, student designers are key for developing a sustainable future. You want your students to be equipped with solutions to the big issues of climate change, but that can’t happen without first knowing how they understand sustainability and where they see themselves in the movement. I want to find that out.
This is why we are launching the New Wave Research Project, the first-ever research project that centers students’ experiences at the intersection of design education and climate change.
New Wave is meant to uncover:
1) How design students perceive sustainability in the design field
2) How design students want to see climate design integrated into their education
Help inform a new wave of design education, one that meets students where they are and teaches every designer how to be a climate designer.
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What we’re hearing from students
“We constantly have to be thinking about what material waste people are putting back out into the environment.”
“Designers have a responsibility to just do better.”
“The responsibility of graphic designers is probably supporting things that are right and doing your best work for those things that are right.”
“We hold the power of choosing who produces our stuff…that power doesn’t just lie with the company. It also lies with you and what you think should be happening with your product.”
“Each of the things we produce as designers has some kind of impact that we need to think about before we even open the Adobe program of choice.”
“Use the power you have, this awesome gift you have of art, to support something that is making a difference.”
Let’s hear from more students
Share the Student Survey page with your students.
View the Educator Outreach Kit. We created the Outreach Kit to make it super easy for you to share with your design education community inside and outside of your school or department.
In the kit you’ll find important links to the student page, student survey, interview sign-up, an email draft you can send to your students, as well as social media images with captions and hashtags.
Listen to Rachel’s interview about New Wave on Climify.
New Wave Lead Researcher
Hey there! I’m Rachel Cifarelli, graphic designer, avid podcast-listener, and Snapple Real Fact enthusiast.
I graduated from Elon University in May 2021, and since then have been working various freelance gigs for Sierra Club and local businesses in my area.
Climate action is my jam, and back in college I knew I wanted to unite this passion with my future design career. But after graduating with a degree in communication design, I felt woefully unprepared for the climate action part. I’ve had to learn a lot on my own. Teaching myself about climate change and the sustainable technologies designers can utilize is inspiring. Imagine, though – if I had gotten this kind of education back in school in addition to learning about color theory and kerning, I’d be in a much better place to make positive change. I know there are other young designers out there who feel the way I do, which is why I’m conducting this research.
This work is for them – I’m giving a voice to those students, empowering them to make change on their own college campuses.
New Wave Researchers wanted
We're looking for a new leader to move forward with New Wave and build off the past two years of research with student designers!
If you or someone you know has an interest in reforming design education to center more climate-action topics, discussions, and projects, this is an exciting project to be part of.
You'll have the opportunity to ask your own questions to design students from all over the US and hear their perspectives about what they want to be learning in their programs. You’ll help empower the newest wave of design students, transforming design pedagogy for the better.
Interested? Email hello@climatedesigners.org for more information and details about this role.
Why is this research being conducted?
If we can teach students how to design for a sustainable world, we will be one step closer to enacting real and powerful climate action. To do that, though, we need to know what students already think about sustainable design, and what we need to teach them. This research will help answer that. It will inform the CD EDU initiative to develop effective climate design education that professors can easily transfer to their classrooms.
What will you do with the data?
Answers will be recorded and analyzed for common themes among students and will be studied to find relationships between different themes (for example, finding the relationship between their feelings on their current design education and their perceptions of sustainable design). The answers students give will be stored for as long as the research project continues.
What will be the final result from this research?
This research will inform the CD EDU initiative to bring climate design into their classrooms. That being said, the outcomes that are possible from this research include a climate design course, a series of climate design projects, a roadmap for tying climate design into mainstream design pedagogy, or even a toolkit for students to take back to their home institutions to advocate for climate design education.
What kind of survey is this?
It’s a five-question survey meant to understand how design students perceive sustainability within the design industry and how climate change might play a role in their future careers. Students will be asked questions about their perceptions of businesses performing CSR (corporate social responsibility), how climate change might impact their future career, and where they see design’s role in social issues like climate change.
What if students have more thoughts on the topic?
Students can opt-in for a one-on-one with Rachel at the end of the survey, or sign up for an interview before taking the survey. She’ll contact them to set up a time for a 30-minute virtual call, where she will ask them about their answers and questions that expand upon the survey.
Is this anonymous?
Yes. Students will not be required to disclose their name or university, and their email will not be linked to their answers. However, students can opt to provide their preferred area of design, their university’s size and type (private/public), and their email if they wish to sign up for a one-on-one with Rachel to discuss their answers in more detail.
FAQ
Get in touch with Rachel if you have any other questions, rachelcifarelli@gmail.com
Check out Climify
Our podcast connecting climate scientists and design educators together so that we can bring climate-related projects into our classrooms.
