For more identity, not less

Strategic design, service design and the infrastructure of everyday life, in the face of Brexit, Trump and deliberately diminished identity

Ed. A shorter version of this article first appeared at Dezeen in March 2017, entitled “Who will design a passport capable of containing multiple nested identities?”. It was written at various points over the last six months

I think I’m turning Estonian

Two days after the Brexit referendum result I became Estonian, at least to some extent. Actually to very little extent, legally. But up late, shattered by a result which felt like a brutal denial of my core existence, I found myself on the Internet, and rather than comfort-buying yet another Dieter Rams monograph, I applied for e-Residency in Estonia instead.

It cost me around €50 and 20 minutes filling in some vaguely well-considered online forms. I uploaded a photo of my passport, filled in some basic details and — from the pull-down menu asking as to why I was applying — I selected the pre-filled option “I’m a fan of e-residency”.

A few weeks later, presumably after Estonian police checks, I find myself in the well-heeled Embassy-ville of South Kensington, west London, stepping downstairs into…