Looking at things strangely: Defamiliarisation as a design approach for media literacy education

Abstract

Design methods have long been proposed as educational devices and, increasingly, as approaches for engaging with societal issues. While media, cultural and political narratives continue to debate best practices for challenging disinformation, with some countries embedding media literacy within formal education, this article speculates on how design approaches might be repurposed for media literacy education. Drawing on theories of defamiliarisation from creative practice and design research, the article postulates graphic design’s intrinsic communicative nature as a potential approach for engaging with media literacy. By interweaving diverse academic discussions, alongside case studies, the article scrutinizes defamiliarisation’s efficacy, alongside graphic design, as a research and pedagogical tool, foregrounding innovative design strategies that may be responsive to contemporary media literacy challenges. In doing so, the article speculates how such practices might be combined, leveraged, and repurposed as educational tools for media literacy, as well as for future interdisciplinary discussions and social design research.