Research Through Design in Design Education

Design education fosters not only the necessary skills to design, but also the ability to critically engage with theoretical concepts and use those during the design process. Based on this perspective, this paper presents how design students, on a graduate level, could use research through design as a foundation in their design practice. It argues that research through design becomes a natural part of the design process as it keeps designers in a loop or iteration of doing/making and reflecting in theoretical and practical levels at the same time. The study brings in examples from master’s graduation projects from Design for People Programme at Design School Kolding to portray how research through design could be used in design education and therefore practice. The paper concludes that this way of working provides theoretical concepts to become a resource for further understanding and transforming design practice as well as creating a better and clearer emergence of theory and practice connection in design.