This research has as objective to propose recommendations for design education in Amazonas, parting from the concept of cultural identity. By using a qualitative approach, through bibliographic research and the focal group technique, the investigation had for guidelines two discursive strands: one theoretical an the other empiric. In the theoretical strand there are discussions about categories of modern rationality as well as modernization and their implications for comprehending cultural identity, in the scope of design education in Amazonas. About the empirical aspect and parting from the focal groups accomplished, registries of concepts about cultural identity are found, and then read under a critical perspective which comes from the idea of social emancipation. The data obtained provided subsidies for indicating educational, methodological and epistemological principles to be observed in the context of design education in Amazonas, aiming at the attainment of contextualized educational processes, such processes also being based in the sociocultural specificities of this portion of Brazil.