Designing A Better Tomorrow Series: What Design Can Do

Discover how design can shape our collective future with Creative Strategist Rachel Edmonds, as she shares some of the most compelling takeaways, coupled with her own reflections from a recent ‘What Design Can Do’ event.

As the challenges of our time become ever-more pressing & interconnected, the role of design in shaping a better tomorrow cannot be overstated.

Recently our team at FutureBrand UXUS had the privilege of attending an inspiring event hosted by "What Design Can Do”, an international organization of creatives dedicated to accelerating the transition to a sustainable and just society through the power of design.

We left energised and inspired, coming away with invaluable insights on the problem-solving potential of design, and the immense impact it can have on addressing the challenges we face. Here are some of the most compelling takeaways from the event:

1. Everything is Design

From the smallest everyday objects to large-scale systems, everything we interact with has been designed. Toruina Meliana, Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam, reminded us how integral design is to every part of our lives and encouraged us to put creativity at the centre of our thinking as we shape the world around us. Design goes far beyond aesthetics. Through design we can create solutions that improve our daily lives and realize the future we want to see. We must remember the power design can hold across every aspect of our lives.

2. We Need an Industrial Evolution

René van Geer announced that we need an Industrial Evolution. Throughout the day we heard from incredible young entrepreneurs who are changing how we approach design, spearheading this evolution we so desperately need. While their inventions and innovations are unique, their endeavours share common threads that point towards how we can evolve. They emphasized respecting planetary boundaries & learning from nature's ingenuity. Nature has been building for thousands of years, it has so many answers – and we need to listen. They also encouraged us to recognize our dual responsibilities as global citizens and members of our local communities – acknowledging our global impact while rooting ourselves in local context. Through these lenses, we can bring sustainability and community to the forefront, designing with clear intent and positive impact.

3. Design for the Mind & Heart

We were powerfully reminded that as humans, we experience the world through both our minds and our hearts. As designers, we mut design for both, harnessing both the rational and the emotional. This holistic approach ensures that our designs resonate on a deeper level, fostering meaning that goes beyond functionality to touch the very essence of the human experience.

4. Global Collaboration

Several speakers highlighted the need for collective effort to create change. Whether it’s collaboration across industries, companies, professions, or specialist disciplines, we must bring together diverse perspectives and expertise. By doing so, we can imagine new ideas, uncover new solutions, and build new systems. The challenges we face are multifaceted, interconnected and complex. This collaborative spirit is essential for us step-changing our thinking, solutions and impact.

5. Storytelling for Change

In the "Narratives for Change" breakout session, we learned about the power of storytelling as a tool for change. Through stories, we nurture human connections, humanize data by making it relatable and amplify marginalized voices. By shifting from fear-based to hope-based narratives, we can provide a vision for what we’re striving for, not just what we’re fighting against. Beyond sustainable production, one of the greatest impacts we can have is through the stories we tell, driving emotional resonance and motivating people to action.

Let’s Write a Different Brief

As the day closed, Clive Russell gave us a powerful call to action: if the brief serves the wrong purpose, we must change the brief. He quoted Bryan C Lee - “For nearly every injustice, there is an architecture that has been designed to sustain it.” The world we live in has been designed. And since it was designed, it can be un-designed. It’s time for us to write a new brief. We can, and need, to design a different future – a better future for all. And the great news is, we can.