Politecnico di Milano Design Department and School of Design is pleased to share with all the Cumulus community the DFA (Design Futures Art-driven) method – a practical and engaging approach that empowers students and educators to anticipate and design for future challenges through an interdisciplinary, creative, and future-driven approach.
As a result of the Horizon Europe MUSAE project, developed through years of educational experimentation, the DFA Method has been successfully tested in both academic and extra-educational contexts. It is also a core component of the Factory Model (https://musae.starts.eu/factory-model-pack/), the main outcome of MUSAE (https://musae.starts.eu/).
The DFA Method combines Design Futures (Design + Futures Thinking) with the Art Thinking approach to foster collaboration, anticipate emerging trends in technologies and domains, and transform current challenges into future opportunities. It supports sustainable and responsible innovation through an educational framework that integrates methods, tools, and case studies.
The DFA method can:
Be directly applied and adapted to various educational and research contexts
Support interdisciplinary projects across art, design, technology, and innovation
Equip students with future-relevant skills and anticipatory thinking
Enhance the employability of students by strengthening foresight and innovation capabilities
To explore the DFA method further and get more information and tips about how it can be used in the classroom with students:
Watch the video lesson, Explore the DFA method in the Introductory course.
Visit the dedicated page website for additional resources.
Review the attached Orientation Guide.
If you are interested in organising an informative session to explore the method in depth, we would be happy to provide a dedicated presentation or workshop. Please contact us at musae-design@polimi.it to arrange this.
The team is also grateful if you could share this innovative learning method with your network:
The DFA platform offers a practical, accessible guide for fostering creative, future-oriented, and inclusive learning. Case studies already demonstrate its transformative impact both educationally and innovatively.
Please join the MUSAE Integrated Stakeholder Network – an open database community of educators, designers, creatives, SMEs and other experts looking for interdisciplinary collaborations.
