Design will grow up

Our wants, needs, attitudes and behaviours have been forever altered by Covid-19 and with it new priorities have emerged in both our personal and work lives. Focusing on business goals, OKRs and value creation alone without considering the impact on wider society now seems narrow-minded.

A rallying cry to those that want to design a better future.

I believe in design and its ability to solve any problem. That we have the skills, passion and desire to tackle challenges that will positively affect not only individual users but ecosystems, communities and society. But to do this design needs to grow up.

In his book ‘Rethinking design thinking’ author GK Van Patter highlights that design methodology needs to match design philosophy to solve wicked problems like the current global pandemic.

From GK Van Patter’s book ‘Rethinking design thinking’.

We need new ways of thinking, new ways of framing problems and ultimately new ways of collaborating outside of pure design disciplines. One recent example is Society Centred Design (https://societycentered.design/), where the design community is asking designers to focus away from individuals and towards the collective benefit of groups of people.

‘Designing for society means designing for the broader context of systems that we impact and shape. We can redefine our social contract with each other, and with the world that we steward. To do this, we must be intentional about citizen empowerment, civic commons, public health, equity, and the planet

If nothing more Covid-19 has provided a transformative shock to humanity. It is more than a pandemic, it highlights how untethered capitalism and rampant consumerism are having terrible impacts on the environment and in turn society.

I expect to see may more organisations follow the examples set by forward thinking brands like Nike (https://www.nikecirculardesign.com/) and Gucci (http://equilibrium.gucci.com/) who have already started to ask questions of themselves, they’ve challenged themselves to consider the wider context of their industries and their impact on the planet.

At Huge our vision is to ‘elevate the human experience in partnership with the world’s most ambitious brands’, and we are challenging all of our partners to think about the impact that their products, services or experiences have on the world. We do this by looking at why we are designing through 3 lenses:

Three lenses through which design must now look.

Ethical — It is the right thing to do. We are mindful of what we design and take a long term view on the impact we have.

Sustainable — It leaves no negative economical or environmental impact. We consciously design to negate negative impacts and amplify positive outcomes with a circular mindset.

Societal — It benefits collective groups of people. We solve complex human problems by considering social issues and pushing positive social change.

In hope to see many more brands seek B corp (https://bcorporation.net/) certification as they balance purpose with profit and designers will play a critical roles as they help brands consider the impact of their decisions on their users, their employees, their communities and the planet.

So that is why I ask every strategist, designer, creative, and technologist to put their immense talents to actively design the new normal. To create the answers that will give us the future that we all want, the society we all want to be part of and the planet we all want to inhabit.