Stop Saying “Be Creative” And Start Unpicking It

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I recently attended an event at Nottingham Trent University that wasn't really aimed at me — but it got me thinking in ways I wasn't expecting. Industry designers were talking to final-year product design students about what it takes to succeed in the profession, and I found myself scribbling notes and asking: what does any of this mean for D&T classrooms?

In this episode, I share my reflections on that event and dig into some of the ideas that stuck with me. We're talking about concepts like problem framing, vision, taste and judgment — the kinds of things that experienced designers do almost instinctively. But here's the thing: when knowledge becomes tacit, when you just know how to judge a good design without being able to explain how you got there, it becomes really difficult to teach.

This is something I think matters enormously for D&T teachers, particularly those who've come into teaching through a design or industry route. The professional knowledge you've built up is genuinely valuable — but your role in the classroom is to recontextualise it. To select, simplify, and make it visible for your pupils. That's not straightforward, and I don't think we talk about it enough.

I also reflect on how easily professional language — taste, creativity, empathy — can become the very clichés we're trying to avoid, if we don't stop to unpick what we actually mean.

So here's my challenge to you: what's the tacit knowledge you have that you've never fully examined? And how might unpicking it change what you do in the classroom?

Developing “Taste” in D&T: Reflections from an NTU Event

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