Mapping Story in Design Education: Roles and Disciplines in Japanese Undergraduate Courses

As design becomes increasingly interdisciplinary and complex, the role of story in design education requires a more precise understanding. This study investigated how stories are used in Japanese undergraduate design curricula, aiming to identify their functions and applications across various design disciplines. A framework-based categorization and inductive thematic analysis of 133 syllabi were conducted, covering twenty-eight Japanese universities that offer undergraduate design programs. Search terms included “story,” “narrative,” and “monogatari.” The extracted data were categorized according to the design discipline and five story roles based on design perspectives. For discipline, media and content accounted for most syllabi (112 out of 133), while the remaining syllabi belonged to environment (11) and service and product (10). Story as a component appeared most frequently (78 out of 133), particularly in Japanese-oriented media genres such as anime and manga. Other roles included story as a context (16) for inspiration, a framing device (14) for conceptual development, a reference (15) as an implicit background story, and an experience (10) in shaping user interaction. This study presents a framework that clarifies the role of story in design education. The findings highlight the pedagogical value of storytelling across disciplines, providing a foundation for future comparative studies on global design education.