With forecasts of algorithmic futures, concern about the disappearing nature of craft, an increasingly pressured art/design education environment and a geopolitical crisis, this talk questions the purpose of graphic design practice and research in education. Reflecting on the experience of revalidating the curriculum on the Visual Communication programme at the Royal College of Art, the paper seeks to challenge our role as educators, question our ambitions for our students and discuss what it means to provide ‘learning for an unknown future’ in such a rapidly changing context. The talk makes a passionate case for reframing education as transformational change and demonstrates the importance of a value-led, rigorous and research-integrated approach to the learning and teaching of graphic design and of diverse ‘communities of practice’ within design education.