ABOUT CORPS COFFEES
Corps Coffees are built on constructive discourse, creating connections and coffee! These are morning events centered around timely topics for the design community. We present the starter idea and thoughts, and then facilitate an in-depth conversation to deepen our understanding and professional practice. Anyone interested in and/or curious about design is invited to join us!
Thursday, August 21, 2025
8:30am – 10am
Henry and the Fish
217 W. San Francisco Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501
no cost | door prizes | coffee
Coffee on us!
Design Mindsets
Within the realm of design tools and processes, the practical matters of designing what and how are well documented, but how do we address the why? How do other strategic or motivational mindsets help communicating amongst collaborators, designers and others involved? How can many disciplines and organizations work together under different assumptions?
Corps Coffees explore what matters to you as community members, and what types of social design at small-scale, citywide scale and larger sociological scales can ‘work’ in and for our community.
Mindsets to Help Frame Collaborative Work
Identifying mindsets within projects is a strategic way of effectively communicating within teams, organizations, and collaborative efforts.
Declarative
The designer has a clear opinion and assertion. Their approach is typically pitted directly against an existing position. It is obvious that the designer has something to say—often passionately, seeking to proclaim, to criticize, to defend, to shame, or to argue. Most often the designer may be presenting a solution, or may just be pointing at the problem. Overall, the designer feels that they already know.
Suggestive
Here the designer also has an opinion and an assertion, although less emphatic. This is a softer version of the declarative mindset, where the designer is less insistent because they are perhaps less confident in their position — they may feel there is evidence but no proof of their strong opinion. A suggestive approach is often seen in social engagement, but it can also be effective in practical applications; for example, counseling may need something that is more propositional than insistent. Overall, the designer feels that they possibly know.
Inquisitive
The designer wants to learn because she is curious or unsure. She can be just as passionate about the topic as with a declarative mindset but she wants to investigate and to probe. She seeks understanding, and as such is more open to other positions and possibilities. Designers may feel that they do not have the answer, or any at all, and therefore they take a more neutral position, where the project is considered a means of research and discovery. This mindset is very often found where the goal is to understand others’ perspectives rather than express those of the researcher. But it can certainly occur with social engagement and practical application. This is a popular mindset for designers who are opening up topics for public debate. Overall, the designer wants to know.
Facilitative
The designer wants to support partners and assist others. The designer may not have a particular passion for or stake in the discourse she is communicating—and conceivably she could even hold a dubious or oppositional view. Instead of a primary concern with the discourse itself, she wishes to be instrumental to others’ goals or particular outcomes. This mindset often accompanies practical application, where the designer works with a partner to achieve their goals but also when collaborating on applied or basic research projects. Overall, the designer wants to help.
Disruptive
The designer attempts to obstruct and impede the presence or momentum of a competing discourse or activity. It can have similarities to a declarative mindset in that it can take an unequivocal stance, but it is most concerned with challenging and opposing others. Rather than proclaiming a right or alternative course, the concern is denouncing a wrong or a less preferable course. It wants to stand in the way, and in the spirit of critical theory that threatens, protests, dissents, and agitates, it is most often found in social engagement. This may involve a soft or passive–aggressive approach or direct confrontation. This can also be found in practical application, where the goal is to disrupt certain thinking or behavior without necessarily or explicitly presenting an alternative. Ultimately, the designer wants to interfere.
From Discursive Design, Bruce M., Stephanie M. Tharp, 2018
