Share and Reuse What Works

Course summary

Share and Reuse What Works is an applied professional module for public designers who need to find, use, create and share reusable design patterns.

Patterns capture established responses to recurring design problems. They help public organisations build on existing evidence and experience, improve consistency, reduce duplication and make effective approaches easier for others to adopt.

The module develops the professional judgement needed to select and adapt existing patterns, recognise when a new pattern is required, and manage and share patterns so that they remain useful to other collaborators.

Students apply the practice to a work-based challenge and produce a pattern specification and reuse plan that support the pattern’s use, development and stewardship.

Who this course is for

This module is designed for existing and aspiring public designers who need to reuse established approaches and make effective design work available to others.

It is relevant to people designing public policies, services, interactions, communications, operational systems or spaces.

Students must complete Introduction to Public Design before taking this module.

They should also have access to a suitable work-based challenge through which they can apply the practice independently.

What you will learn

How the course works

This is an applied professional module combining classroom learning with independent workplace practice. Students learn through a structured sequence:

• teaching of the concepts, methods and frameworks that underpin the practice;
• public-sector case studies that show how the practice is used;
• short practical exercises using individual tools and methods;
• group application through a realistic scenario developed across the module;
• reflection on learning and planning for workplace application.

Following the classroom component, students complete a two-day independent work-based project in which they apply the skills to a real challenge. They then spend a further day preparing their portfolio entry, completing their project reflection and taking part in a design crit.

Assessment and accreditation

This module is formally assessed. Students submit a portfolio entry demonstrating how they have applied all the skills associated with the practice in a real work environment. The expected professional artefact is a reusable design pattern or asset, supported by evidence of how the student identified reuse potential, documented rationale and context, addressed IP/governance requirements, and shared the work with relevant communities.

Students also complete a project reflection and present their work at a design crit.

A teacher from the Government School of Design assesses the portfolio evidence against the Public Design Capability Framework. Students are assessed on their deployment of the required skills, rather than the volume of reuse achieved by others.

Students who successfully complete the module receive professional certification jointly badged by the Government School of Design and the Chartered Society of Designers.

Each completed module contributes to the student’s professional portfolio. Students who successfully complete all seven Universal Public Design Practice modules will be assessed for chartered status through the Chartered Society of Designers.