Making Mindfulness explicit in Design Education

As new approaches to Design Thinking emerge, mindfulness and other related abilities are discussed as skills that should be made explicit in Design Education. Research on the topic of mindfulness spans about four decades in various fields of study and several streams of research approaches have expanded the ways it is described. Diverse human qualities that are associated with these practices are also deemed important for designers. Whilst this is so, Design literature does not appear to explore detailed ways to integrate it into design-learning environments. This propositional paper seeks to establish the conceptual approach behind the argument that a Systemic-Mindfulness-Device (SMD) can make the role of mindfulness explicit in Design Education and enhance a designer’s inner awareness. Inner awareness is considered fundamental to also enhance awareness of our relations with others and with the world, which is important for emerging participatory and co-design contexts. That being said, it is also reasonable to assert that all Design choices have a relational aspect to it, whether explicitly as co-design or in more traditional contexts. A SMD is understood as a reflective tool embodying and merging mindfulness, mapping, and systems thinking in order to blend mindfulness into designerly processes of learning.