Presenting with Dana Ragouzeos

The integration of semi-structured games and play into design education prepares students for future success by giving them a chance to feel experimentation, curiosity, and failure in a low-risk environment, experience collaborative decision-making within clear constraints, and build cognitive recall and creative resilience. This is especially true with diverse student populations, where many students are under-represented in their chosen design field or lack a financial or social safety net, and for whom the popular advice to “embrace failure” feels dissonant. This case study describes the use of play and games in the design class setting to go beyond surface-level “gamification,” supporting community, confidence, and camaraderie. Examples include the use of gameplay to teach manufacturing processes, design research methods, and design concept refinement.