Any expedition begins with an invitation.
It’s the threshold into something new, the moment where possibility meets purpose. For over a decade, I’ve designed transformative environments for learning, blending creativity, design thinking, and now with the power of artificial intelligence. My work invites organizations to reimagine their future, not just by enhancing their spaces, but by shaping the experiences that take place within them.
At the heart of this process is a shift—one that invites you to rethink how learning happens, how educators and students engage, and how organizations evolve. Together, we’ll craft pathways that build new conditions for education, empowering your team to adapt, innovate, and thrive in a rapidly changing world. My goal is to help your organization advance the experience you offer.
Real change takes time, collaboration, and a shared commitment to push boundaries. My goal is to guide you through a dynamic, inclusive process that challenges the norms and unlocks new ways of thinking. Together, we’ll create an environment that fuels growth, develops forward-thinking mindsets, and nurtures the skills and dispositions necessary for continuous improvement.
The story of your organization’s future is waiting to be written—let’s shape it together and design the conditions for lasting impact.
The Design Thinking Classroom, my book about using design to craft a new classroom experience for teachers and students.
The Design Thinking Classroom is based on my 37-year career as a teacher, school administrator, technologist, and designer. The book presents a case for the design of a new classroom experience led by a new vision for the classroom teacher, the educator-designer. The book provides an overview of the design thinking process, paints a picture of a design thinking-based classroom experience, and provides strategies for using design thinking as a part of contemporary pedagogy. I’ve also included my perspectives on creating physical and virtual learning environments that can support a new classroom experience. Most importantly, the book provides a complete guide for rethinking what can happen in classrooms, how design and inquiry can drive those shifts, and how every teacher, regardless of experience and assignment, can create learning experiences that help students develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that will help launch their lives. Selected Reviews | Chapter Lineup
PURCHASE THE BOOK at Amazon or Barnes & Noble
The Collaboration Commons of the new Anzar High School (CA) Hub. DJD redesigned an existing library and administrative space to create a new dynamic heart for the Anzar Campus. See more images in the gallery below.
What DJD is working on:
DJD and Jason Meyering Architecture of Chicago are collaborating with the American School of Nicaragua to develop a 10-year master facilities plan to support their continued growth and focus on providing innovative learning experiences for their students.
DJD is proud to announce the availability of the AI Classroom Method Integration Deck. The deck and its associated resources support the development of a strategic plan for using artificial intelligence in teaching and learning. NOW AVAILABLE at educationmethod.cards!
The Design Thinking Classroom: My book on using design thinking to reshape the classroom is now available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. See the above announcement on this page for more information!
DJD will return to the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District to provide professional development for teachers on how to improve their classroom experience with new classroom designs.
Featured Resource: DJD Design Gallery
Visit the gallery to see proven solutions developed by David Jakes Designs LLC
David Jakes Designs LLC has worked with education clients to provide concept designs for their spaces. This work ranges from classrooms and libraries to makerspace, entrepreneurial spaces, and innovation centers. The portfolio presents nine projects with visual representations of the space designs. This work has been completed in association with Jason Meyering Architecture of Chicago, Illinois.
BELOW: Our redesign of the Administration/Library Building at Anzar High School, Aromas-San Juan School District (CA). The building was redesigned to be the new heart of the campus, with four distinct common areas (Administration, Campus, Collaboration, and Academic). The design also features a provocative design for the library that distributed library resources across the entire building rather than in a defined library section.
MY DESIGN PARTNERS
““This past year, I’ve traveled the globe, presented to thousands of educational leaders, and hosted over 57 schools/organizations to our school, and one topic of discussion always comes up, “David Jakes!” There are an abundance of educational consultants that claim to enhance school organizations, and then there is David Jakes, who actually does. If you’re ready to create an experience unlike any other for your students, staff, and school community, then David Jakes is your champion to make that experience a reality.””
“David Jakes fully engaged the Racine Public Library staff and board of trustees in a robust planning process that probed into the heart of what our library is all about. Library staff reported that his workshops with them were the best they’d ever attended. He pushed back when he heard something that was discordant, getting us to think hard about what we do and why we do it. He followed up on threads that were similar and pulled things together to form a beautiful mosaic for our strategic plan. The manifesto he created is a true representation of what he heard from the board and staff, and what the community wants to see. His process is creative and engaging. I feel very fortunate to have worked with David and recommend him highly.”
There are accepted ways of doing things. Until there is a new way of doing things.