lowercase design and UPPERCASE DESIGN

Design-driven decision making that happens within the data-driven process is lowercase design. These types of design-driven decisions represent tinkering with and iterating upon the current system. Little design is about working within the existing structures and making them better. This is evolutionary change.

UPPERCASE DESIGN operates outside of the current system and what Donella Meadows refers to as “madly letting go” of and being free of our paradigms. DESIGN is an unconventional-thinking-outside-of-the-box approach. This is revolutionary change. Would you like to see an example of DESIGN in education? Check out Andrew Stillman’s doctopus.

DESIGN and design are both necessary and important. But they are two, entirely different states of mind (and personalities).