Design in the Anthropocene

Photo by Tobias Tullius on Unsplash

Design in the Anthropocene What should be the role of design working towards a more sustainable future?

Ben Reason & Anna van der Togt FLA 22’ — Ux & Product Design Week

Liveworkstudio.com

London Rotterdam Sao Paulo

Livework Studio © 2019 1

FLA - UX & Product Design Week

Today’s Agenda Activity

Start

End

Get to know eachother

12.00

12.20

Design in the Anthropocene — an introduction to our thoughts

12.20

12.40

Shared reflection & myth busting

12.40

13.10

Break

13.10

13.20

The what: objects of redesign for sustainability

13.20

13.35

The who: our role (only if we have time)

13.35

13.45

Check-out & reflection

13.45

14.00

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Good services don’t happen by accident.

They need to be designed. That’s what we do.

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Livework

21 Years of Creativity & Impact

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clients ● Business, government & NGOs ● From startups to multinationals ● From healthcare to hoofcare ● From B2C to B2B to G2C

1500

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● From sprints to 10 year engagements ● From strategy to delivery ● From innovation to incremental ● From training to transformation

● London, Rotterdam & São Paulo ● Working in 30+ countries ● Approx 100 people ● Diverse backgrounds & nationalities

projects

studios

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About us

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The world of tomorrow is ours to create. We must be ecological Our focus on industrially designed & produced products and services serving users resulted in an ecological crisis. We must change our ways of acting, thinking and being to acknowledge and address the damage we are doing to our planet.

We see this as a fundamental human challenge. A design challenge. The future emerges directly from the things we design. We have to design ecological.

Photo by Marcel Strauß on Unsplash 6

“These are the kinds of problems you can’t manage your way out of.

You have to design your way out of them.”

Marty Neumeier, The Designful Company

Photo by Priscilla-du-Preez on Unsplash

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Let’s start with

Who’s who?

Please introduce yourself, the organisation you work for and your sustainability character

Photo by Irina Iacob on Unsplash

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Who are you?

Please introduce yourself, the organisation you work for and your sustainability character:

The Curious Newbee

Photo by Irina Iacob on Unsplash

The Sustainability Dummy

The Sustainability Veteran

The Unacknowledged Sustainability Evangelist

The Sustainability Skeptic

The I’m-just-goingalong-on-thisride

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Design

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Design

Human Centered

Co-creative

Reframing

Contextual

Experimental

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Human centred

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Co-creative

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Reframing

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Contextual

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Experimental

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Anthropocene

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Anthropocene Increased levels of climate-warming CO2 in the atmosphere at the fastest rate for 66m years, with fossil-fuel burning pushing levels from 280 parts per million before the industrial revolution to 400 ppm and rising today.

The Guardian August 2016 18

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Anthropocene Doubled the nitrogen and phosphorus in our soils in the past century with fertiliser use. This is likely to be the largest impact on the nitrogen cycle in 2.5bn years.

The Guardian August 2016

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Anthropocene Put so much plastic in our waterways and oceans that microplastic particles are now virtually ubiquitous, and plastics will likely leave identifiable fossil records for future generations to discover.

The Guardian August 2016 20

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Design in the Anthropocene

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Re-design Design

Human Centered

Co-creative

Reframing

Contextual

Experimental

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More than human centred “The end of the world is the end of the idea that humans are the only people that have a world on this planet.”

Humankind, Timothy Morton

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Hugely co-creative “Human beings can choose to remain unaware of their fundamentally co-creative involvement in reality, or they can become mindful and responsible in full awareness of the power of design.”

Daniel Christian Wahl 24

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Reframing prosperity “The idea of a continually growing economy is an anathema to an ecologist” Prosperity Without Growth, Tim Jackson

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Ecologically contextual “Now that is agency… It is what makes humans of nature and also the freak of nature.”

Defiant Earth, Clive Hamilton

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Always experimental “Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure, risk, and uncertainty.”

Anti-fragile, Nassim Nicholas Taleb 27

Design will need to be

More than

Hugely

Reframing

Ecologically

Always

Human Centered

Co-creative

prosperity

Contextual

Experimental

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Trying to be : More than Human centric An example to what designing like this could look like

Photo by Anastasia Palagutina on Unsplash 29

More than

Hugely

Reframing

Ecologically

Always

Human Centered

Co-creative

prosperity

Contextual

Experimental

Plenary reflection

How do you think design should change?

Photo by Anna, on her hiking trip to the French Pyrenees

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What else needs reframing?

Which product & UX-design myths do we need to bust?

Photo by Anna, on her hiking trip to the French Pyrenees

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Great (digital) products should be……. seamless

simple frictionless

effortless

cheap convenient

intuitive

aesthetically pleasing

transparent

Are these still relevant?

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Time for a break ;-)

Photo by Seb Mooze on Unsplash

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Objects of design

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What is the design work?

Our role in the ecosystem ●

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System e.g. What leverage points/incentives do we "own" What system change can be unlocked by us?

Our value chain e.g. How can we reduce the environmental/social impact of our value chain? and how do we get our partners to collaborate?

Our organisation ● ●

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Our strategy e.g. How do we move forwards? What are our targets?

Our set-up & processes e.g. How to orientate and organize ourselves towards more sustainable goals?

Our operation e.g. How can we reduce the footprint of our digital products, of our systems, or of our offices/shops?

Our services ●

Our services e.g. How can we change the services around our products so they are less impactful or even contribute to longevity or circularity (e.g. return, repair, upgrade, recycle)?

Our products ● Our products e.g. How can we reduce the environmental/social impact of our products? (e.g. recycled materials) ● Our value propositions/portfolio

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For example: Mobility The product: Design a car

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For example: Mobility Services: Design mobility app

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For example: Mobility Organisation: Design for organisational change towards strategic goals

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For example: Mobility Ecosystem: Facilitate city and city stakeholders to facilitate greener transport

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LW’s design work?

Livework has to understand what a sustainable future looks like in the spaces we operate in:

Role in the ecosystem

The Livework’s sphere of influence is mostly in (re)designing: ● ●

The services of our clients The organisation of our clients

The organisation

Plus want to do more work (re)designing: Multi-org ecosystems/client ecosystems

The services

The products

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What is the design work?

Where does your design work sit?

What does that mean for the sustainability approach?

Step 1 — Take 5 minutes to reflect & make notes on the handout.

Step 2 — Discuss in groups of 5 and help each other to get to a deeper understanding by asking reflecting questions

Our role in the ecosystem Re-designing the role xxx plays in its sector

Our organisation Re-designing how xxx operates to achieve sustainability goals

Our services Re-designing xxx’s relationship to clients and how they are supported towards sustainability

Our products Re-designing xxx’s products to address sustainability

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Actors of design/ The designer

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Translating sustainability to our day to day work It's not just business, it's personal It's an unprecedented shift that needs time to process and reflect Fostering a new kind of reflective mindset/culture to continuously redefine our way of working/thinking and help to structurally look at the bigger picture and beyond BAU.

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Tuning in - your role as a designer, human being, team member, employee or world citizen What does sustainability mean for: ● ● ●

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You personally? And how would you like to bring that to work?

The world/ecosystem around your business? In what ways is it a topic? Trends? Changes in regulations?

Your business? In what way does it have an impact on the world and how is that addressed? How is the organisation engaged?

How does that trickle through to your team/department? What is their role? How do people reflect and evolve their work?

Reflect in groups — What might this mean for: ● ● ●

The approach needed?

The processes or governance needed?

The mental models, tools or templates needed?

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Checkout What will you take away from this session?

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

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