DESIGN EMERGENCY

Design Emergency emerged from a simple yet powerful premise: young minds, equipped with design thinking skills, could reshape their world. Through this Australian Design Centre initiative, we witnessed how children transformed from passive learners into active problem-solvers, tackling real challenges in their daily lives.

The program's methodology placed professional designers alongside students and teachers in a dynamic learning environment. In one memorable instance at a Surrey Hills school, students reimagined their playtime experience, addressing equipment storage and access challenges—a seemingly modest problem that yielded profound learning outcomes.

Each Design Emergency session unfolded like a miniature design studio. Students moved through carefully structured phases: identifying issues that mattered to them, setting concrete design goals, conducting multi-faceted research, and developing prototypes for testing. This wasn't theoretical learning—it was design thinking in action.

The initiative's growth matched its ambition. Beginning with four New South Wales schools in 2011, it expanded through a successful showcase at the 2012 Vivid Ideas Festival in Sydney. Its integration with CUSP, our major project exploring Design for the Next Decade, amplified its reach and impact. As Design Emergency joined our touring exhibition program, it carried its message of creative problem-solving to students across Australia.

What set Design Emergency apart was its emphasis on cultivating courage and embracing risk—essential qualities for future innovators. By bringing together students, teachers, and working designers in collaborative problem-solving, we created a laboratory for innovation that extended far beyond traditional classroom boundaries.