Design For Impact

Bijscholen / Getuigschrift / Microcredential

A master class for thinkers / doers / architects / designers / scientists / artists / economists ...


A half-time 1-year interdisciplinary course with contact days on Wednesdays and Thursdays.


Become a changemaker and enroll!

  • before Wednesday 6 September 2023 and attend the intake on 12 September 2023
  • before Thursday 21 September 2023 and attend the intake interview on 25 September 2023


Register here.

Curriculum

Those who work as 'creative' have power. Power to come up with solutions that have real impact. But such influence also comes with responsibility: what do you use that talent for? 

With this programme, we want to give creatives first-hand experience of how to use their talent as a lever, a crowbar with social value. The goal: to stimulate a new generation of architects, designers, copywriters, filmmakers and other makers-slash-thinkers to initiate change.

The Professional Master Class 'Design for Impact' is for the seekers. The questioners. The ambitious ones with entrepreneurial spirit in the broad sense of the word. Those with a hunger for other disciplines and an unstoppable belief in cooperation. Those who want to get to know themselves better and who understand that you do your best thinking by doing.

We want to sharpen your faith in your own creativity. By making you think about the role of creatives and how they can work on different and better. By giving you projects that transcend the conceptual and giving you responsibility from concept to execution. By letting you work together, across fences, with businesses, governments and other creative talent. Because if we want to tackle the Big Problems, we have to dare to come up with radically new solutions.

That's why you will work directly with the impact sector. You attend inspiring sessions, work on real cases and constantly reflect on your own role in the co-creating network you are building. You polish your soft skills. You question yourself. But you also get to know methodologies, from design thinking over society- to planet centered design, which you critically examine with the aim of finding your own method. Never dogmatic, always pragmatic.

Our ultimate goal is to help you, as a creative, gain a better insight into your own qualities so that you can get a head start on the labour market. On the other hand, we make you the spark at the fuse: the catalyst that ignites the creativity of others, the reason why multidisciplinary teams create synergy, the profile that realises the power of creativity. A force for good.

For more info (in Dutch) and pictures visit https://www.visual-design.be/design-for-impact.

What we believe in is what you get:

Soft is the new hard
21st century skills, the so-called 'soft skills', are central to this programme. Creativity, cooperation, communication and critical thinking are at the core.

Doing is the new learning
We learn rooted in the real world, and work with and for professionals on real, complex problems. You attend inspiring sessions and work in multidisciplinary teams on concrete cases. A melting pot of designers, scientists, artists, social workers who collectively transform their talents into concrete actions.

Partners are the new mentors
Impact experts will introduce you to methodologies, from design thinking over social design to planet-centered design. You put together your modular track and choose the focus you want to explore: biodesign, social design, circularity, speculative design or a topic in which you want to make a difference.

A better me makes a better world
You put inner development first, transformative skills for sustainable development, to help realize the much-needed transition to a sustainable society.

Video

Practical info:

You follow the professional masterclass for a minimum of 18 credits; this includes the basic module of Design for Impact and 1 impact project. You can then complement the master class with other impact projects or modules, with an impact internship or with an international impact field trip up to 30 credits (half-time).
Other practical information such as cost price, SME portfolio, assessment can be found at the bottom of this page (or via the page menu under 'Start'). 

Interested in this course?

Application & entry requirements
Assessment

Design for Impact is open to candidates who already hold a bachelor's or master's degree, or candidates that are undertaking a bachelor or master at the time of registration. Furthermore, candidates will have to meet the language and residence conditions: more info

Participants are admitted to the programme on the basis of an intake interview. During the interview, we mainly sound out your 'Drive for Impact'. We also find it important that your expectations are in line with what we offer. In addition, we try to put together as diverse a group as possible. 
Sign up! 

Questions? Be sure to contact fabienne.beernaert@luca-arts.be.

Cost

The total amount is calculated on an individual basis and depends on a number of factors:

  • Certificate Design for Impact: €800. You take 30 credits (basic package 18 credits + additional modules of your choice). This is a half-time course.
  • Creditcontract Design for Impact: you register for at least the basic package of 18 credits and freely choose any additional modules. The cost is calculated as follows: fixed cost of €447.90 (= registration + study cost) + €11.90 per credit taken. For example, you pay €662.10 for the basic package of 18 credits. In order not to run into timing problems, it is best to take into account a time commitment of approximately 1 day per 12 credits taken (18 credits = 1,5 days a week). We always meet on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The other days are free to choose depending on the credits taken.
Do you qualify for the SME portfolio?

As an entrepreneur, you can apply for a subsidy (20% to 30% support) through the KMO-portefeuille to improve the quality of your business. LUCA School of Arts is a recognised service provider.

Check here whether you are entitled to this support: https://www.vlaio.be/nl/subsidies-financiering/kmo-portefeuille.

Where do you have class?

Facilities & campus life

CAMPUS SINT-LUCAS GENT
Alexianenplein 1
9000 Gent

  • in the heart of the historical centre of Ghent (or on location)
  • with a range of workshops (3D, audio, wood, metal, photography, glass, graphics, ceramics, print and scan, textiles, video and screen printing) with guidance in the use of materials and techniques

Curious?
Click here for a virtual tour on our campus in Ghent!

Contact

Contact us: 

ingwio.dhespeel@luca-arts.be
fabienne.beernaert@luca-arts.be

Do you still have questions about the quality of our education? Click here.

Alexianenplein 1, 9000 Gent/////
Further studies and career

Future of Design

We believe that the designers of the future will be creators of sustainable solutions to complex problems. They made the transition from user-centred design to society-centred thinking and design. They thrive in cross-disciplinary teams and can also manage such teams themselves. They are trained in communicative, (inter-)creative and coaching skills and have a highly developed self-regulation.


 

Staff

You will be guided by a mix of professionals and teachers with a lot of experience and expertise. The creative work field contributes to the programme, providing content, lectures, workshops, expertise, network, real life design challenges, mentoring, etc. The LUCA team is responsible for coordination, quality control, 'soft skill mentoring', coaching and guidance of the personal trajectory.

The Impact Experts

Daan Annemans is an ethical digital designer at Altruïs. His mission statement is: 'designing for happiness'.

Daan studied Visual Design at LUCA-arts Ghent in the Digital Studio, then he got a Master in Philosophy at the VUB. He researches how we can apply ethics in design processes and how we as humanity can better deal with the digital. From ethical web-creation to coaching workshops and campaigns, he inspires people to altruism in the digital society.

Jasper Bloemen is an impact entrepreneur and co-founder of GLIMPS.bio, a Ghent start-up that wants to shape a sustainable future based on biotech, design and circular economy.
Together with his team, he helps companies, governments and starting entrepreneurs and creatives to make the sustainable transition possible, for example by helping to develop scalable solutions for waste streams in the city and to find connections with social impact. He is also specialised in giving talks and workshops on nature-based innovation and connecting entrepreneurs, designers and scientists around social challenges. In addition to his years of experience in the academic world, he has also helped set up two non-profits around making science and STEM inclusive.

Yonca Braeckman is the founder and CEO of Impact Shakers, a global impact ecosystem that addresses societal challenges through inclusive entrepreneurship. She is a mission-driven entrepreneur and investor in underrepresented entrepreneurs. She helped build the Belgian and European startup ecosystem and she has been a mentor for many international programmes such as SXSW, Slush Tokyo, General Assembly, Guild Academy, Village Capital, Shapers Impact Capital and guided many startups on their first steps abroad. She built a new smart city hub in Ghent, Watt Factory. She sits on the board of several non-profits and is the curator of TEDxGhent and the Techstars Startup Digest Reading List on Impact Entrepreneurship. Her mission is to make impact entrepreneurship inclusive.

Nathalie Goethals is creative director and inspirer of iDROPS and passionate about developing new projects within healthcare. She has her heart on her sleeve and is a stubborn go-getter. Nathalie started to study innovation and its processes and methodologies more than 10 years ago because of the lack of a hands-on approach in Flanders and the lagging behind compared to Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon countries. From this deep interest, she gradually built up an expertise that further translated into the start-up of iDROPS in 2010.

Tomas De Groote is impact expert at the Sociale InnovatieFabriek. The Social Innovation Factory accelerates and promotes social innovation and ditto entrepreneurship in Flanders and Brussels. Tomas was one of the founders of Impact Wizard, an online tool that allows organisations to measure and monitor their social impact. As a process manager, he coaches social innovators and social entrepreneurs on impact, social business modelling, funding mix, and scaling scenarios. Before joining the Fabriek, he worked as a business coordinator and policy officer in the social-cultural field. Tomas holds a master degree in Psychology (KULeuven) and Philosophy (UGent).

Lien De Ruyck is a creative strategist who helps organisations, brands and individuals to think differently. Entrepreneur, possibilist & adventurer who believes in a makeable future. Specialised in communication strategy, disruptive design and social innovation. Particle accelerator in the interface between activism, creativity and sustainability. Tribe Chief of We Are Tribe, a collective that uses an activist impulse to create impact through strategy, content and design.

Inge Ferwerda is an independent communication designer. Her message is 'as creatives we have the power'. Inge is a driven and experienced communication designer, she gained her experience in many leading advertising agencies, where she used every opportunity to contribute to designing a better world. She has been a teacher at LUCA for more than 15 years, first in Brussels in the Bachelor of Graphic Design and the Master of Social Design, now in Visual Design in Ghent. As a practitioner, her focus is on coaching and working with interdisciplinary teams to design smart solutions that have impact. Check out her latest project that aims to get the UN's Sustainable Development Goals on every design table > http://www.creativesforgoooooooooooooooood.be

Nathalie Goethals is creative director and inspirer of iDROPS. She is passionate about developing new projects in healthcare. She has her heart on her sleeve and is a stubborn go-getter. More than 10 years ago, Nathalie started to study innovation and the related processes and methodologies because of the lack of a hands-on approach in Flanders and the fact that it was lagging behind compared to Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon countries. From this profound interest, she gradually built up expertise, which translated into the start-up of iDROPS in 2010.

Polish writer Igor Walszborszki ate raw herring every morning and drank vodka with it. He wrote his first poem after a dip in the fresh ice. He has been nominated for the Nobel Prize four times. Jill Mathieu was not. She is nevertheless a woman of words. And when she gives someone her word, she wants it to mean something. That is why she and her goodcopy.ink collective of copywriters for brands who use its vowels, oxymorons and Oxfordian commas to make the world a little better.

The LUCA Impact Team

Fabienne Beernaert is the source of energy of the Design for Impact team: her enthusiasm is absolutely contagious, she brings people together, she is never out of ideas. As a teacher and researcher at Sint-Lucas Ghent, she has really found her niche. She guides students in a personal way in an attitude of lifelong and collaborative learning. This is how she contributes to innovation in this rapidly changing society. Her basic attitude is one of equality, a genuine belief in the student's potential. Impact, purpose, creative activism, design thinking, research, soft skills. This melting pot of content areas fascinates her. She fully believes in the cross-fertilisation of disciplines, in empowering the student, in co-creation, in the cross-over between education, the professional field and research. That cross-over is also the bath in which she will teach you the ins and outs of design research and design thinking.

Edith Goddeeris strengthens the team from her expertise in coaching and communication skills. Communicating with impact, that is her focus. She will teach you the necessary soft skills to work together smoothly and fruitfully by creating a coaching climate with a constructive feedback culture. In addition, she will coach you in concretising and clarifying your objectives. Besides teaching Communication at LUCA, Edith is also active as a career coach at Kessels & Smit and as a (training) actress and communication trainer at Klein Barnum. She also gives theatre lessons in part-time art education. https://edith.works

Ingwio D'Hespeel is point of contact and coordinator of the Design for Impact programme and will help guide the Impact Design Student Teams. 
Although Wio's teaching in recent years has mainly focused on ui/ux, design thinking and idea generation, he does not see himself as an expert in a specific design branch. 'My specialisation is not specialising,' you can often hear him say. My favourite spot is at the crossroads where different disciplines meet'. Wio has a background as an engineer-architect, was a long time teacher in an IT-programme, is fascinated by physics, likes to immerse himself in intangible heritage, looks back on a modest - ahem - 'quarter century musical career', is preparing a research project on 'creativity in lucid dreams', has an unquenchable passion for educational innovation, etc... So, plenty of intersections!

Partners

Together you make more impact! That is why we are building an enthusiastic and diverse impact network: creative agencies, impact organisations, accelerators, social entrepreneurs, startups, local governments, other educations, ...

We Are Tribe is a collective that uses an activist impulse to create impact through strategy, content and design.

Altruïs wants to boost well-being in the digital society so that the digital helps us to live a better life, for society and planet.

Creatives for goooooooooooood 's mission is to put the SDGs on the desk of every creative, and in every meeting room they enter.

Sociale InnovatieFabriek accelerates and promotes social innovation and ditto entrepreneurship in Flanders and Brussels.

Impact Shakers tackles complex social challenges through inclusive entrepreneurship.

iDROPS guides innovation processes around six societal challenges: Care, New Learning, Sustainability, Superdiversity, Global Innovation and Community Building.

GLIMPS.bio is a Ghent-based start-up that wants to shape a sustainable future based on biotech, design and circular economy.

Goodcopy.ink is a copywriting collective. They write good copy for good people.

Strategies and Leaders is a cooperative strategic consulting firm with years of experience in driving strategic processes and implementation. Strategies and Leaders works only for organizations and companies whose mission is to create a better world.

Volmaakt builds an inclusive world through the power of design. Our design label connects designers and custom companies and develops socially sustainable design products.

ToolBox and its volunteer professionals help social, environmental and cultural organizations acquire new skills and develop customized solutions.

We are bigtrees. A consulting and communications agency that focuses on sustainability through three pillars: consulting, branding and go-to-market.

Interested in this course?