Design is how futures are made
As co-founder of Nordkapp based in Finland, Sami Niemela doesn’t have a typical day. He balances his focus from giving creative direction that enhances the work and growth of others, to working on long-term strategic design initiatives. He’s also committed to fostering the design culture in his studio, with his clients and with the industry at large. Co-chairing Interaction Week 2016 in Helsinki along with Peter Bihr demonstrated his passion for bringing together the diverse mix of ideas and points of view within the IxD community.
Sami has been building for the web since the late 90s, discovering interaction design around 2003: “It gave vocabulary to many things I already worked with. At the same time, I moved from working on simple websites to more complex future concepts on emerging media such as mobile phones.”
A recent project, “Made in Machina/e,” was curated with Sami’s friend and colleague Simone Rebaudengo in Shenzhen, China. Described as “an ongoing research into the relationship of Nordic design and Chinese manufacturing culture, machine learning and the authorship roles in design,” it asks: “What happens when the product is created not by the functional need, but out of a whim by the market itself?”
The vocabulary of interaction design has broadened Sami’s understanding of the world and the human condition. He tries to inject this ethos to everything he does — from concepts for urban design to strategies that help make society better with each passing day.
“We as designers are responsible for what we put into the world and should treat it with care and attention every single time. We must play an instrumental role in how the world will look and operate.”
To bring foresight and design closer together, and increase the understanding that futures are made, Sami worked on launching “The Actionable Futures Toolkit”. It has made an impact in academia and with practitioners at large companies like Google and smaller firms alike. He’s also expanded this into Nordkapp’s offering by hiring foresight specialists and strategists who talk about the importance of thinking, doing and learning in the context of futures and complex systems.
When Sami needs inspiration, he practices the art of Zen and enjoys being outdoors in the mountains, playing winter sports or biking. He considers these activities his meditation.
“There is a Zen proverb I like: ‘Move, and the way will open.’ Start from anywhere. Experiment and the world will reveal itself to you. Never cease to be curious and never stop playing.”
