Our degree programs are interdisciplinary, which means we collaborate with experts throughout the larger Stanford campus.
To help guide this work, we’re mapping new connections for faculty and students. By naming the domains in which design work is particularly important–The Planet, Biological Futures, Health, and Social Impact–we’re able to team up with other schools at Stanford to help immerse students in the real-world applications of design.
Q&A with Domain Co-Lead Emily Callaghan
You work with Kate Maher in Designing for the Planet and with Drew Endy on Designing for Biological Futures. As a designer, what is it like teaming up with experts in other fields?
As a domain co-lead, I see my most valuable role as a translator and connector. I'm always thinking about how design translates to other worlds, which is why I feel capable of working in these spaces—Earth sciences and synthetic biology—that are otherwise out of my experience depth. I find that, with my work with Kate and Drew, the more I understand their areas of study and research, the more I can demystify or peel away the jargon so that we can connect similarities across the practices of science and design.
How do you help students implement actual design work in their fields of interest? How do they understand how they can contribute to their fields of interest?
I focus on helping students discern the “big question they are asking” with their design work. As a design leader, I’ve always challenged my team to have a bigger question in mind, beyond their day-to-day contribution. The reality is that making a difference can get crowded by our daily efforts and emails, and we risk losing our spark. Holding those big questions, while we create, asks us to have a grander vision that keeps us curious and motivated to do great work and make a difference. The domain choice is a natural place for this big question to be explored and articulated. The actual design work connected to their big question can show up in the every day: their internships, capstone, and first jobs. As we consider the dots across these spaces, the students are able to sense patterns of interest—what gives them energy, what makes them feel proud—and that awareness drives momentum. The more they have a chance to experiment, the more rooted they become.
How does working in the domains challenge and support students studying the field of design?
There are two main things for me that I'm excited about that the domains challenge students in: how to make their design toolkit portable and how to sharpen their curiosity.
As students are building their design toolkits, giving them space to try out their tools in an educational environment before they advance into higher education or a work environment is empowering. At the same time, by working in the domains, we’re able to work at a larger scale. This feels like an opportunity space because creating large-scale experiences isn’t always possible within the container of a classroom or a project, where we usually set up a lot of scaffolding for students. Working in the domains allows them to get messy and to explore in spaces that are less scaffolded and constrained so they can gain confidence around accessing their toolkits.
Scale also translates to curiosity. In the domains, we’re coaching our students in how to get curious at big levels about change and impact for design. It starts with a question: How might I think about design in this non-design context? This line of questioning is critical as they consider their career and everyday lives. .
I've heard some students reflect on the fact that they're not sure how to carry and apply their design toolkits in some of these domain classes, which is fair. But we're really just asking them to learn and soak things in, and then figure out where the connections are. It’s about helping students to sharpen their curiosity and wonder more deeply about how design might intersect.
How do you guide students in better understanding their capacity as a designer in a real-world context?
I like to start by learning what matters to them as individuals and understanding their journeys and stories. The more we can understand our students’ experiences and influences, the easier it is to help imagine how they might play a role. When I notice what lights them up, I know we’re getting somewhere—whether it’s a project, a conversation, or a challenge. One of my favorite parts of working with rising designers is being with them as they overcome and move through challenges. It reveals their approach to problem solving as well as what they find exhausting and energizing. We also talk about the importance of prototyping through their work experiences while holding professionalism and respect for their work environments. By prototyping I mean that if they can approach each opportunity, role, and project as a chance to get closer to both what they’re fully able to offer as a designer and what fits for them, that’s a career track in the simplest terms.
Through their educational journey, we shape a lot of design experiments for our students. But within the domains, they begin to start considering and shaping their own design experiments, which gets them more acquainted with their own agency and curiosity.
Credits
Emily Callaghan and Jennifer Brown