Designing the Youth Participation Platform

What if your next design project connected you to youth movements, artists, technologists, and changemakers from every continent — and helped shape a platform that empowers the next generation globally?

This hands-on module invites Integrated Design students to collaborate with the Alliance for Youth-Led Futures (AYLF) — an establishing international coalition of youth organizations, NGOs, researchers, and institutions working at the intersection of design, democracy, and transformation.

Together, we’ll co-create a participatory platform that empowers youth worldwide — combining digital, physical, and social formats. From creative expression and storytelling to mentoring, leadership, and entrepreneurship, you’ll explore a wide range of design approaches to support meaningful engagement and global collaboration.

You’ll collaborate with global stakeholders from all continents — including partners like Youth4Planet, 1Gen, AIME Australia, the Bertelsmann Foundation, The Futuring Alliance, the Institute for Art and Innovation, and the World Health Organization (WHO). And more international partners are currently in the process of joining.

You’ll apply design methods that go far beyond the studio:

→ Futures Thinking to anticipate change

→ Systems Mapping to understand complexity

→ Theory U to align action with intention

→ Speculative & Critical Design to imagine what doesn’t yet exist

→ Gamification & Journey Mapping to build engaging, inclusive experiences

You’ll also explore how to align multiple global initiatives — from hackathons and mentoring programs to artform-based showcases — under a unified, scalable platform vision. Along the way, you’ll use tools like the Y4P App to prototype team-building and matchmaking features, and co-design engagement pathways across six creative disciplines inspired by a Global Youth Call for Participation.

Final project outcomes will be presented to the AYLF network and may be showcased at global events.

In this truly integrated design seminar we will:

- Collaborate across cultures and disciplines on real-world, future-facing challenges

- Explore how design contributes to democracy, equity, and systemic change

- Prototype digital, physical, and narrative tools that empower diverse youth communities

- Work directly with stakeholders from every continent — from grassroots activists to global institutions

- Develop creative strategies that are scalable, inclusive, and globally relevant.

You’ll walk away with a tested platform concept, international experience, a professional network — and a design project that could live far beyond the semester.

Ready to design for the next generation?

This is your platform.