Design Futures: October 2020
Lately, it feels like we are balancing on the edge of a great conflict. The landscape seems full of friction, miscommunication, and an abundance of misalignment between strangers, commerce, politics, and even friends and family amidst these great distances. Within this trend, we are pondering peace: how to define it, what it means, how to achieve it.
We move first to the obvious: the opposite of war. Then to someplace more intimate and vulnerable — the notion of being at peace with oneself. Then peace resembles a journey map — a process that requires work, intention, and awareness at every juncture. And the root of all peace, empathy.
The work of peace has been diagramed over dozens of years, sometimes a lateral continuum, sometimes a cyclical journey, often overlaid by Maslow’s infamous triangle — the hierarchy of needs — because we’ve long understood that only when physiological and safety needs are met, can we begin to look outwardly, practice empathy, and take action.
In the same week The World Bank reported that another 150 million people (an additional 1.4% of the global population) could be pushed into extreme poverty by the end of 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the United Nations World Food Programme won the Nobel Prize for Peace — a keen reminder of the delicate balance between hunger and conflict that faces our global community.
Investigating the later stages of peace, if we already have food on the table and safe shelter, revealed the importance of diplomacy and peacekeeping. Notably, the idea of trust among citizens — in each other, and in their governing bodies. Truth-telling is central to keeping and maintaining peace.
We have long known our official “histories” are insufficient and inaccurate, typically dominated by people in power. Access to information (online) is much easier than 20–30 years ago, yet there are swarms of false information also being shared and consumed. Building trust as an incremental movement toward peace, requiring access to information from both “official” and marginalized perspectives.
So we asked: How could designers use technology and design to support truth-telling, deepen trust, and create open access to information that could support peace, while amplifying and advocating for “the people”?
We hope you enjoy this month’s exploration on The Future of Peace.
Spotting Civic Dark Patterns
In UX design, dark patterns are user interfaces that trick users into doing something they don’t intend, want, or need. Dark patterns are not bad design — dark patterns are designs that ensure bad outcomes for the user. As government, tech, and design continue to intersect, designers have the opportunity — and responsibility — to ensure that public services work for the people.
In this article, Design Strategist Catherine Woodiwiss looks at how service designers can advocate for human-centered & civic-minded solutions to create the systems, policies, artifacts, and experiences required to deliver the best service to end users.
Featured Events & Articles
Becoming Digital Sherlocks
Join our free Austin Design Week workshop! What does your physical space reveal about who you are and where you’ve been? And how many times have you rearranged your bookshelf since March? Design strategists Catherine Woodiwiss and Laura Galos teach us to use remote design research to understand and empathize with users.
Register for the Workshop >
Future Sessions Video
Unable to attend Future Sessions? Watch the recording of this cross-disciplinary conversation with industry powerhouses discussing how to build a sustainable future and sharing resources across the intersection of technology, business, and design. Featuring Elizabeth Gore, Joah Spearman, Meetesh Karia, Diana Griffin, Priya Nayak, and Angela Wong.
Watch the Video >
Wicked Problems
Empathy isn’t a finite moment — it requires rigor, time, patience, and emotional energy. And it’s absolutely necessary for designing *with* instead of designing *for* users. Read more and download Modernist COO Jon Kolko’s Wicked Problems for free to learn tools to uncover value, address ethics, and move beyond one person’s vision to solve cultural needs.
Read the article >
Finding Inspiration
Our team’s shortlist of what we’re reading, listening to, and learning from:
Everything is Someone
Joshua Noble & Simone Rebaudengo explore the point where technology and philosophy meet, seen through the eyes of kids, vacuum cleaners, factories, and mountains.
Order your copy >
Shore by Fleet Foxes
The group’s musically adventurous new album is about letting go and staying true to ourselves, especially in the midst of existential questions, distress, and anxiety.
Listen >
The History of Ballot Design is the History of Democracy
As millions of Americans begin to head to the polls, here’s take a look at how our printed ballots have evolved.
Read More >
Open Path Psychotherapy Collective
This non-profit network of mental health professionals is dedicated to providing in-office and online mental health care — at a very reduced rate — to individuals in need.
Learn More >
Vote 411
Get a personalized voting guide, see what’s on your ballot, find your polling place, check your registration, see debates in your area, and much more!
Get Informed >
The Four Agreements
Be impeccable with your word. Don’t take anything personally. Don’t make assumptions. Always do your best. In a time of uncertainty, Don Miguel Ruiz’s words are worth revisiting.
Order Your Copy >
“It is vital that peace be assured, for now we have a weapon that can destroy the world. We children of public school age can do much to aid in the promotion of peace. We must try to train ourselves and those about us to live together with one another as good neighbors for this idea is embodied in the great new Charter of the United Nations. It is the only way to secure the world against future wars and maintain an everlasting peace.”
— 13 year-old Ruth Bader, writing for her school newspaper in 1946
Thank you for joining us on this month’s Design Futures journey. Let’s keep imagining what the future can be.
Take a look around our website to learn more and get in touch to continue the conversation.
— Modernist Studio
