An Education on Design Education for Orgs
Summary
We're always looking to create a high level of design literacy across our organizations, but how do this in a way that creates its own momentum? Wendy Johansson, global product experience leader at Amazon, will share her tried and true methods in scaling design education within orgs of all sizes as a means of scaling design.
Key Insights
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Scaling design requires educating not only designers but also cross-functional teams with different mental models such as engineering, marketing, and HR.
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Executive sponsorship is crucial for funding and legitimizing design education initiatives, but grassroots efforts are needed to reach the broader organization.
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A large organizational gap often exists in the middle layers, where design has impact but lacks influence, which can be addressed using service design blueprints.
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Design education maturity progresses through survival (proving relevance), defending value (demonstrating ROI), and operationalization (democratizing and embedding design).
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Cohort-based design communities enable sustained, peer-supported learning and advocacy across different departments and design maturity levels.
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Turning design generalists into specialists requires understanding individual skills and motivations rather than assigning fixed roles prematurely.
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Integrating design education into existing organizational learning programs, such as onboarding or management training, helps scale design fluency efficiently.
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Design teams touching all parts of an organization, including unexpected areas like catering, reveal opportunities to embed design thinking widely.
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Building confidence in non-designers comes from giving them hands-on practice opportunities paired with leadership recognition and encouragement.
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Design education is a form of inclusion that ungatekeeps creativity and aligns everyone towards shared customer-centric goals.
Notable Quotes
"If you’re human, you’re creative."
"Everyone in proximity of design has a creative opinion."
"Design education is ungatekeeping design – it’s inclusion, bringing everyone along the journey."
"We have the same goal in mind – to give the customer the best experience – but we use different tools and languages."
"One by one education efforts don’t scale; you need to think bigger organizationally."
"Service design blueprints help visualize gaps where design has impact but not influence."
"Turning generalists into specialists starts by understanding what they’re good at and what motivates them."
"Design is finally where it can shine — solving human problems beyond just product design."
"Treat each cross-functional group as a cohort to help them learn and experience design together."
"Everyone’s a designer, and embracing that is key to design education at scale."
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