The role of the learning context and designer characteristics challenge and reveal the design process

Abstract This paper discusses how designing is much more than the execution of a process toward an end product that satisfies a client brief. Instead design and designing are integrated with a designer’s personal philosophy, understandings and attributes, relationships with others, and the nature of the project. The project to be described in this paper explores how context can mould the experience of designing at a personal and collective level, and thereby, influence the resultant outcome. The project’s focus offered the potential to monitor how students respond to the design process in a multidisciplinary environment. The findings indicate that students and staff were enthusiastic about the opportunity to participate in a community service project and that student engagement was influenced by their expectations, individual personalities, and group dynamics. It was also demonstrated that these influences were facilitated by the learning environment and impacted on the design process. . Therefore, it is proposed that university students respond to projects that demand high levels of engagement and real world context. The students bring to that process rich experiences and knowledge in an integrated manner. The interrelationship between the design, the designer, and the context is therefore, an essential consideration for design educators and practitioners when fostering teams and tackling design projects.