This research delves into how design education can catalyze rural revitalization and the digital renewal of non-heritage artifacts, blending traditional values with modern innovations. By establishing a comprehensive evaluation framework, we analyzed trends across 31 provinces from 2013 to 2022, focusing on rural growth and the digitization of non-heritage cultural elements. Our methods included the entropy value and TOPSIS methods, alongside a coupled coordination degree model, uncovering that economic prosperity and enhanced living standards drive rural development, with notable digital advancements in regions such as Beijing and Guangdong. The study highlights a growing synergy between rural and digital non-heritage development, reaching moderate coordination by 2022. It underscores the transformative effect of design education on rural and digital heritage sectors, recommending the establishment of an online education platform for wider knowledge dissemination.