Teaching
My teaching focuses on systems-oriented, research-driven and socially engaged industrial design. Since 2010, I have taught design studios, research and theory courses at undergraduate and graduate levels, with particular emphasis on sustainability, systems thinking, design research, strategic design and social innovation.
I see the design studio not only as a setting for product development, but also as a space for inquiry. Students are encouraged to investigate complex contexts, work with users and stakeholders, map systems, identify intervention opportunities, and translate research findings into products, services and strategic proposals.
My teaching is closely connected to my research. Sustainability, circular design, systemic design and societal challenges frequently provide the context for studio projects, while collaborations with companies, municipalities, NGOs and other external partners enable students to work with real-world constraints and stakeholders.
Current Teaching Areas
My current teaching activities include courses and studios addressing:
- Design Research — qualitative and contextual research methods for industrial design, including observation, interviews, contextual inquiry, mapping and research synthesis.
- Systems Thinking — methods for understanding relationships, feedback, actors and intervention opportunities within complex systems.
- Sustainability in Industrial Design — sustainable and circular design principles, strategies and methods, from product-level decisions to broader production and consumption systems.
- Design Project Studios — research-driven industrial design projects integrating user research, concept development, prototyping and strategic considerations.
- Technical Studies — hands-on exploration of mechanisms, materials, manufacturing principles and functional prototyping.
- Strategic Design — product-service systems, stakeholder relationships and design interventions addressing organizational and societal challenges.
Design Studios and Graduation Projects
Over the years, I have coordinated and taught design studios ranging from conventional product development to speculative, systemic and socially oriented projects.
Sustainability and Societal Challenges
- Design for Slow Cities 1 — Seferihisar, 2011, Graduation Project. Students developed sustainable transportation solutions supporting local everyday activities. The project later contributed to a paper presented at the Green Age Symposium.
- Design for Slow Cities 2 — Taraklı, 2012, Graduation Project. Students investigated endogenous development opportunities and developed product-service systems intended to support local sustainability.
- Design for Personal and Public Health — 2013, Design Studio V. Conducted in cooperation with Başakşehir Living Lab, focusing on products and services addressing personal and public health.
- Plants in Near-Future Urban Life — 2014, Design Studio II. Students developed near-future scenarios exploring how plants might become integrated into products and urban life in response to challenges such as air quality, access to fresh food and water, and environmental degradation.
- Design for Refugees — 2016, Design Studio IV–V. Conducted in cooperation with the Istanbul-based NGO Small Projects Istanbul. Students investigated challenges encountered by Syrian refugees and by the NGO providing services to them, and developed product-based interventions.
- Frugal Innovation: Design for K–12 Education — 2017, Product Design Studio IV. A studio exploring low-resource innovation and accessible educational products.
- Urban Food Cycle from a Circular Design Perspective — 2018. A systems-oriented studio examining food production, distribution, consumption and waste through circular design principles.
More recent studio teaching has increasingly incorporated circular economy, systems mapping, contextual inquiry, strategic intervention and collaboration with external organizations.
Industry and External Collaborations
Industry collaborations have provided students with opportunities to work within real design and production contexts. Selected projects include:
- Sinbo — Upright water-filter vacuum cleaner, Graduation Project
- Furniture industry collaboration — Stapler gun design
- Viko — Extension cable design
- Collaborative studios and research activities involving Living Labs, NGOs, municipalities and industry partners
These collaborations are used not simply as sponsored product-development exercises, but as opportunities for students to understand how design decisions interact with manufacturing, markets, organizational priorities and user needs.
Undergraduate Courses
Courses I have taught include:
- Design Research
- Systems Thinking
- Sustainability in Industrial Design
- Strategic Design
- Design Innovation and Product Strategies
- Marketing for Industrial Designers
- Principles and Processes of Industrial Design
- Materials and Manufacturing Techniques
- Design Project Studios
- Technical Studies
Graduate Courses
Design for Social Innovation
The course examines social innovation, social entrepreneurship and design responses to unmet societal needs. Students investigate theoretical perspectives alongside real-world cases and develop proposals that connect social challenges, stakeholders, available resources and implementation possibilities. Course outcomes may include academic research as well as tangible or intangible design interventions.
Design and Society
The course examines relationships between design and contemporary societal challenges. It introduces debates concerning the social roles, consequences and responsibilities of design and encourages students to critically examine how designed products, services and systems participate in broader social change.
Teaching Approach
Across studio and theory courses, I encourage students to move between research, analysis, experimentation and making rather than treating these as separate stages of the design process.
My teaching particularly emphasizes:
- understanding problems before proposing solutions;
- investigating users in their actual contexts;
- examining products as components of wider social, environmental and economic systems;
- identifying relationships and leverage points within complex situations;
- developing multiple alternatives before committing to a design direction;
- prototyping as a means of inquiry, not only validation;
- connecting product-level decisions with strategic and systemic consequences.
My broader objective is to help students develop the ability to work not only as product designers, but as designers capable of understanding complexity and identifying meaningful opportunities for intervention.