Embracing a systemic, regenerative, and inclusive mindset to be part of the solution, not the problem.
»Design is at the nexus of Theory and Practice.
Design is where art and science meet.
In fact, it integrates information from almost all the disciplines into which we have separated human knowing and doing.«
Wahl, D. C. (2016: 130)
The Power of Design
Design is so powerful. The ability to imagine novelty and then act on it is inherent in every human being. Everyone has the potential to create, therefore everyone is a creator. Some are more skilled and experienced than others, like professional designers, but everyone has the fundamental ability to create and design. Professional creatives engage in creative thinking and doing and use a plethora of mediums to express this process.
The creative process, though different every time, still has some consistent characteristics:
Creative work deals with uncertainty constantly — the whole creative process is a dance with ambiguity and uncertainty, guided by a clear vision or goal.Creatives expand reality, consciously or unconsciously, by imagining and skilfully manifesting novel realities.Creative work combines separate sources and subjects by drawing inspiration from a wide range of fields and knowledge.Creative work bridges the gap between theory and practice, pursuing only the theory that works in practice.Creative work is often characterized by an ‘explorer in quest’ mindset and a culture of ‘failing early and often’, where making mistakes is seen as a necessary step of learning.Playing with an idea or method and having fun with it, are important parts of creative work
My motivation to study Design was and is to ‘design’ a better world. In 2016, just before I started a course in Industrial Design, I read Cradle to Cradle by Michael Braungart and William McDonough. In it, they painted a vision of a great future, based on ethical production and consumption cycles. They suggested circular processes, from ‘cradle to cradle’ instead of ‘cradle to grave’: they reframed the notion of ‘useless waste’, to be instead seen as ‘useful nutrients’.
Their vision inspired and convinced me, that Industrial Design had the power to change the world. During my studies I learned about planned obsolescence, about cost-calculations, and that ‘the market’ decides, which products to make and which to ignore. It became clear to me, that we have all the solutions we need to solve the many social, ecological, and ethical challenges we are facing. And, gradually, I understood that it is not the products that need to change, but it is mindsets and systems that need to change. Visionary design professor Birgit Weller introduced a Master’s course on Systemic Design at the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin in 2020 and thanks to her efforts to establish a new Design course, I was introduced to systemic design practice.
But first, let’s dive a little deeper into what the Act of Designing is.
Martin Skibsted and Christian Bason state that »Design is an intentional discipline that uses form, sense, and sensibility to connect people’s needs with what is technologically feasible and commercially or socially viable.« [1]
Andrew Levitt, has a psychologically insightful perspective on Design. He studied both Architecture and Psychology and wrote The Inner Studio and Listening to Design. Both books are about the impact of our inner worlds on our designs for the outer world. He believes that compassion enhances creativity and offers modern psychology’s resources to creatives. In Listening to Design he wrote:
»I think of Design as a kind of sacred activity. Not only do design decisions exert influence over many people, but the way resources are used has a real impact on local environments, issues of inclusivity and, ultimately, on global issues such as climate change and species extinction.« [2]
He sees the design process itself as a kind of therapy.
The Evolution of Design
The Evolution of Design by Beaulé
Marie-Jeanne Rose Bertin (1747–1813) is arguably the first famous designer in history. The ‘Minister of Fashion’ was the Dressmaker to Marie Antoinette, until the French Revolution forced her into exile. In tandem with radical cultural transformations, Design also changed extensively since the birth of design as a profession in the 19th century. The graphic above shows this fast-paced evolution.
The perspective, that design solves problems, even complex social problems, is not new. This short conversation between Charles Eames and Madame L’Amic, curator of the exhibition “Qu’est ce que le design? (What is Design?)” at the Palais de Louvre in 1972, is proof:
Q: “What is your definition of ‘Design,’ Monsieur Eames?
A: “One could describe Design as a plan for arranging elements to accomplish a particular purpose.”
Q: “Is Design an expression of art?”
A: “I would rather say it’s an expression of purpose. It may, if it is good enough, later be judged as art.”
Q: “Is Design a craft for industrial purposes?”
A: “No, but Design may be a solution to some industrial problems.”
Q: “What are the boundaries of Design?”
A: “What are the boundaries of problems?” [3]
But is Design really this powerful? Do Designers not just make fancy chairs for wealthy people? Thankfully, no. As Charles Eames said — the scope of Design is adjustable to the scope of the problem. Today, Designers are creating interactions, services, organizations, school systems, grass-roots movements, and even policies.
When we design something, we create meaning. Andrew Levitt suggests, that we »need to say grace before we begin creative work. Not necessarily to absolve us of responsibility, but to declare our deepest intentions before we begin creative work.« [4] Becoming aware of one’s intentions, assumptions and worldviews is essential as »all design is either consciously or unconsciously an expression of our theories about the world — our culturally dominant worldview.« [5]
It is a continuous process to question and reflect on one’s own intentions, drives, assumptions, and worldviews. Cultivating self-awareness along with the ability to deeply listen, are requirements for this new kind of Design Practice. Then, Design is perfectly suitable to act as a mediator and connector between different experts, bridging gaps of knowledge. Designers can take the role of bringing different disciplines together, to collaborate effectively, and create the necessary context for successful, cooperative, and transdisciplinary projects. What Facilitators are to workshops, Designers are to transdisciplinary projects.
»Design should not be considered a specialised field of human endeavour; rather it can be understood as the integrative activity that connects human intentions to their material and cultural expression in the form of artefacts, institutions and processes. […] Design expresses and creates culture!« [6]
Design practitioner and educator Rob Fleming calls for »[…] a new type of design professional, one that is deeply collaborative, ethically grounded, empathically connected and technologically empowered.« [7]
Design Education & Integration
Fleming sees design education as an essential tool in shaping socially and ecologically sustainable futures. »Evolving the design professions to higher states of consciousness does not demand a paradigm shift so much as it does the transcendence to a new more integrated worldview, and the inclusion of all preceding worldviews.« [8]
Daniel Christian Wahl calls this new worldview the ‘story of interbeing’ and argues that we need to overcome and let go of the old ‘story of separation’. This is in line with my understanding of a ‘System of Togetherness’. He writes that »the shift from our current industrial growth society to a life-sustaining society of diverse regenerative cultures is fundamentally the shift in metadesign from the ‘narrative of separation’ to the ‘narrative of interbeing’.« [9]
»Until designers shift to a more holistic worldview, design will continue to be part of the problem, not the solution.«
Terry Irwin, 2012
Terry Irwin is the Director of the Transition Design Institute at the Carnegie Mellon University. According to her, the biggest shift for designers is happening on this level of fundamental understanding of reality. In 2011 she said that »one of the most fundamental changes for designers and the design process will be a shift in focus from objects to relationship. […] An organic model of society and environment will replace the dominant, mechanistic one and this in turn will suggest a more respectful, iterative and inclusive process for designing solutions.« [10]
Bridging the gaps
For design to enable this respectful, iterative, and inclusive process, it needs an update as well. Design Thinking has been widely criticized for not catering to the complexity we live in, and creating shallow and unconsolidated solutions. In their new book Expand — Stretching the Future by Design, Jens Martin Skibsted, Designer, Entrepreneur, and Design Philosopher, and Christian Bason, political scientist, are making a case to widen the design field and discourse, to face today’s complex challenges. They suggested six dimensions of necessary expansion and how design can help close gaps in perception and empathy, as they observed a shift from human-centered design to life-centered design or planet-responsible design.
Here are six dimensions to expand awareness by design:
Expanding Time
With the help of mental models and pointed questions, we can extend the timeline in which we think. Can you think ahead 50 years, or even 100 years? »Humans have lived in this location for nine thousand years, so why not design a society for the next nine thousand?» said Moa Bjørnson, who is the head of a project in Norway creating a sustainable community with a long view.Expanding Proximity
To create experiences of ‘closeness’ that drive empathy and ethical action. Closeness is the key to action, »the logic is thus: expand your feeling of proximity to others and you trigger greater ethical behavior and, in turn, add more value to the world.«Expanding Life
The fundamental understanding of life has changed. We can ask ourselves: What does it mean to be ‘alive’? What life forms are we designing for? »As the dominance of human-centered design declines, it is steadily being replaced by what we could call species- or life-centered design — a burgeoning movement that seeks to design for the entire planet and takes into consideration other species besides our own.«Expanding Values
How can we rethink what is valuable and desirable to design the irresistible circular society and move toward a Wellbeing Economy? Skibsted and Bason suggested »[…] adopting circular, networked, and multidimensional models of design, use, redesign, and reuse.«Expanding Dimensions
The dimensions of design have expanded from material artifacts to digital worlds and now complex social systems. »Not every expansion in dimension is a wise, responsible, equitable, or sustainable one.« This increased power to transform living systems comes with increased responsibility and the need for deep ethical considerations. Just because we can do something, does not mean we have to do it, or that it is holistically salutogenic (salutogenic: health-generating).Expanding Sectors
To have a chance of getting everyone together and addressing our thorniest problems, we need to overcome sector-thinking, destructive competition and egoistic power plays. Skibsted and Bason make a case for »seeing the public and private sectors as complementary sets of resources, […] for letting go of industrial society’s narrow notions of sector and silos; and for thinking much wider in terms of ecosystems and value-creating relations among actors, […]« This will need new hybrid sectors to create win-win-win situations for all involved. [11]
The Aesthetics of Togetherness
Gregory Bateson is an English anthropologist, social scientist, and cyberneticist. He believes that aesthetics are the recognition of patterns of connection, he calls it a ‘universal togetherness’. Seeing these connections in everything is changing what is considered beautiful and what is not. In Wahl’s words: »Aesthetics is a participatory exploration of the relationship between the one and the all.« [12]
One example of how worldviews alter perceptions of beauty is the current discussion about the aesthetic of windmills in rural Germany. Proponents of renewable energy tend to see them as acceptable, even beautiful, while opponents of renewable energy tend to find them ugly and disturbing. Updating our ‘abstract’ understanding of the world will result in a new perception of beauty, health, and progress.
Based on Wahl’s suggestions for Regenerative Design, I propose this list of ten design principles that present and future design professionals should be invited to reflect on:
Design expresses and creates culture.Design is at the nexus of theory and practice.Design follows worldview and worldview follows design.Design intentionally shapes interactions and relationships.Perception is a two-way process.Seeing is interpreting.Design for positive emergence and whole-systems health.Shift of intention away from prediction and control to appropriate participation.Solutions are moving targets, rather than fixed states.If it is not diverse, it is not beautiful, it is not sustainable.
What do you think? Am I missing anything important? Do you see it completely different?
Let me know – I am always happy to have an open dialogue!
‘With great power comes great responsibility.’- Voltaire, aka Uncle Ben
[1] Skibsted, J. M.; Bason, C. (2022: 26) Expand. Stretching the future by design. Matt Holt Books, Dallas, USA. [2] Levitt, A. (2018: 83) Listening to Design. A Guide to the Creative Process. Reaktion Books, London, UK. [3] Forrest, J. (2018) Charles Eames has the perfect definition of Design, UX Collective. https://uxdesign.cc/charles-eames-has-the-perfect-definition-of-design-5e47c61a6a6c. Accessed on 23.9.22 [4] Levitt, A. (2018: 84) [5] Wahl, D.C. (2016: 129) [6] Wahl, D. C. (2016: 124) [7] Fleming, R. (2013: Preface). Design Education for a Sustainable Future. Routledge. London, UK. [8] Fleming, R. (2013: 4) [9] Wahl, D. C. (2016: 129) [10] Wahl, D. C. (2016: 127) [11] Skibsted, M., Bason, C. (2022: 150ff) [12] Wahl, D. C. (2016: 135)Here are 10 things every Designer should be invited to think about was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
