Those who participated in Un/School briefly found themselves back in the classroom. Precisely at the moment when lessons began, a bell rang. Latecomers, much like real schoolchildren with all sorts of explanations, received a ‘late slip’. At the end of the session, participants were given a diploma.
Un/School began when Alain Dujardin, creative director at Greenberry, looked out over Ketelhuisplein from Het Klokgebouw at a previous edition of DDW. “At that moment, I thought: next year more than 300,000 people will come to Eindhoven to seek inspiration. Would it not also be an opportunity to experiment with all these people, whose work may radically change in the coming years, on how new skills could be learned? I literally thought: suppose there would be a small school there, what would it look like?”
The origin of Un/School
The initial idea was developed together with DDF into a plan that places future skills at its centre. “We see that technology increasingly influences work and the roles we, as humans, have within it,” says Alain. “This raises the question: what makes us unique as human beings? Creativity, adaptability, and critical thinking are becoming ever more important.”
Together with Dries van Wagenberg from DDF and enthusiastic design agencies, the idea was further concretised. The small school that Alain had previously envisioned became Un/School. In ten sessions, led not only by Greenberry but also by Muzus, Afdeling Buitengewone Zaken, Fundamentals Academy, and Morgenmakers, participants were able to develop skills for the future.
“We looked for studios that have experience in training and knowledge sharing,” explains Alain. “Morgenmakers, Afdeling Buitengewone Zaken, Fundamentals, and Muzus all had their own academies or learning methods. This made it possible to create a wide-ranging programme.”
A school for curiosity
The sessions at DDW ranged from future thinking to generative AI. “It was about creative thinking, empathetic listening, systemic observation, and how to deal with uncertainty,” explains Alain. “For example, Muzus conducted a session on making the unimaginable imaginable. How can you look at things differently and make that tangible? This is something designers are often good at, but for others it can be quite challenging.”
Dries attended the session led by Morgenmakers himself. “It was a good mix,” he says. “They shared how they themselves work with questioning, provided background information, and allowed participants to practice using tools. You could see that people immediately began to reflect: why does a collaboration work or not work? Where should I pay more attention? That immediate insight was impressive.”
According to Alain, the context of DDW itself worked particularly well. “You are temporarily removed from your usual environment,” he says. “That helps to think differently. Moreover, you are with people you do not know, but who are working on the same themes. This resulted in many very interesting exchanges.”
What design studios learned
Un/School was also instructive for the participating design studios. “For us, it was valuable to share our knowledge in this way,” says Alain. “We are used to working for clients, but this forced us to clearly articulate what is really at the core of our profession. And to convey that in an accessible manner.”
Dries observed the same. “We learned that it is possible to share complex design skills in an accessible way,” he says. “The diversity of studios enriched the programme. Participants could see different perspectives on what design and design thinking can mean in a short period of time.”
According to Alain, bringing together design agencies that are, in a way, also each other’s competitors worked surprisingly well. “Everyone had their own approach, but it felt like a unified whole,” he says. “You could really see that the shared drive to share knowledge was stronger than the individual agency interests.”
The value also lay in the interaction between designers and participants. “The audience was very diverse,” explains Alain. “Students, people from government organisations, designers, policymakers. This led to conversations that you would not normally have. And for us as agencies, it also provided new insights.”
Key learnings and opportunities
Both initiators describe the experiment as successful, but they emphasise that it is only the beginning. “The setup worked well,” says Dries. “But there is still much to learn. We want to understand how we can develop this further: for example, how long should a course last, how do you combine designers with people from other domains, and how do you keep it practical?”
An important insight, according to him, is that there is room for a shared learning platform. “We want to create a place where knowledge from practice remains available for practice,” he says. “Design studios work on societal challenges at the forefront. If you can pass on that knowledge directly, the entire design field benefits.”
Alain also sees opportunities to further develop Un/School. “We do not want this pilot to end after DDW,” he says. “It would be wonderful to apply this concept more often, perhaps in a different context or within organisations that wish to work with it. We have seen that people genuinely learn from this way of working.”
Dries adds: “DDW is an excellent place for testing. The audience is open and curious. But it would be interesting to do this outside the creative bubble as well. That is precisely where the impact could be increased.”
The value of experimentation
For Alain, Un/School is a confirmation that learning may remain an experiment. “We did not have a script,” he says. “We simply set up a glasshouse, organised workshops, and observed what happened. That was precisely the intention.”
Dries regards the first edition explicitly as a prototype. “DDW is a testing ground,” he says. “It allows you to experiment with new forms of knowledge transfer. This was a first test, and the responses were positive.”
What both share is the belief that design expertise can help to better manage change. “The world is changing rapidly,” says Alain. “We must learn to learn. That may be the most important skill of all.”
What’s next?
Following the first edition, an evaluation is planned with all participating studios. “We will look together at what worked well and what could be improved,” says Dries. “From this, a plan for a follow-up should emerge.”
Alain adds: “What I want to preserve, in any case, is the experimental attitude that was present during Un/School. Un/School is not called that without reason. It is about learning in a way that is not school-like: by doing, by trying, by remaining curious.”
According to Dries, this also aligns with the broader mission of DDF. “Within Coalitions, we work on societal innovation using design expertise. Un/School demonstrates how that expertise can be passed on. It concerns skills that are not only relevant for designers but also for clients and policymakers.”
