The 5C Model

During a design process, designers produce knowledge in many ways. An ever-expanding field,
design continuously includes new approaches from other fields such as anthropology, business, and
innovation, which are implemented side by side with traditional design approaches e.g.
prototyping, and sketching. As teachers of philosophy of science and design methods at a design
school, we are invested in the following question: How might we expand design students’
understanding of the many ways in which knowledge is produced during a design process? How can
we help students actively experience the approaches and reach a new level of conscious action
when designing? Informed by theories of design thinking, knowledge production, and learning, we
have developed a model, the 5C model, accompanied by 62 method cards. Examples of how the
model has been applied in an educational setting are provided, explaining how and why the model
and method cards work in practice.