We live in exciting times, becoming part of a global community has unprecedentedly influenced the way we live. A time where design has brought us many good things and the products that we create can have a lot of impact. But with that – for us designers – now is the time for reflection.

With the Blue Dot Initiative we’re exploring the possibility of using our power, skills and talent to inspire change for a more sustainable future. We believe that creativity has consequences, as a result, we can’t take neutral stance. As communicators, makers, writers and strategists we can choose to keep serving destruction, or we can drive change. Obviously, we choose the latter.

With The Blue Dot Initiative we’re exploring the possibility of using our power, skills and talent to inspire change.

The Blue Dot Initiative is founded by The Garage in March 2020, after months of extensive research and re-defining the purpose of our work. The Garage is a strategic design agency that helps others do good business, currently based in Amsterdam and Berlin. We put the planet first in everything we do and create products and services that enable others to do the same.

Re-thinking our design approach
We urge ourselves and other creatives to re-think the “frictionless” experiences that we’ve been creating for years — and to become more aware of the unforeseen effects of the products we bring into this world. It is time that we move beyond our human-centered ways of designing while acknowledging all the good insights it brought us. We embrace a more transparant, systemic and responsible approach to what we do: Planet Centric Design.

This new approach leads to new and unexpected, innovative and sustainable business solutions. We’re developing a toolset and a method to re-evaluate conventional business models, more about that later.

The next revolution in innovation.
We’re shaping the next revolution in innovation. For decades we’ve been preoccupied with answering questions like “What if?” and “How might we?” — now we’re adding “But at what cost?” to our toolset. This is new territory, for us too. But sustaining this planet is something that we can’t do alone. Through this initiative, we invite like-minded creatives to join forces on exploring the future from multiple perspectives.

So, what’s next?
Our heritage lies in the energy sector, which is currently undergoing a major transition. A sector where innovation and a planet centric design approach is very much needed. This is the spot where we will publish more about planet centric design and what that means for the work that we do. We’ll be sharing our findings here. Occasionally we’ll be organizing meetups on this topic and we would love to see you there.

Our goal with this initiative is to expand the Planet Centric Design Community. The Blue Dot Initiative is an open invitation to foster common ground and develop good design for the future together. Taking in account our planet as well as other perspectives, different interests and broader demographics, instead of focussing on a limited group of human beings.

Talk soon!
The Garage Team

Would you like to contribute? Or would you like to get to know more about Planet Centric Design? Leave us a comment below.

The Blue Dot Initiative is initiated by The Garage. The Garage is founded by innogy, the world’s largest pioneer in energy transition and sustainability — and as independent part of E.ON — we share a deep commitment to preserving and improving the world.

This article is part of The Blue Dot Initiative, where together with like minded creatives we explore the next revolution in innovation — Planet Centric Design.