Decolonising design education through playful learning in a tertiary communication design programme in South Africa

Abstract

This article introduces playful learning as part of the decolonising project at institutes of higher learning in South Africa with specific reference to the discipline of communication design. Not only does the article interrogate the content of design education, specifically design for development, but more specifically the way that design for social innovation is taught. The article begins with a contextualisation of the decolonisation debate both locally and internationally, which is followed by a brief historical overview of formal design education. Design education’s trajectory informs the contemporary conception of design as a form of rhetoric. Design and play are then interfaced theoretically, and pragmatically through a case study to explore how deeper learning was made possible by play in a curriculum‐based project. Ultimately, the article aims to highlight the value of playful learning in design higher education to nurture alternate modes of design thinking that favour localised practice, intersubjective relationships between designers and their stakeholders and the enabling of students’ self‐realisation through real world experience.