Design as An Enabler of Change: Presentation at 'New Ambition: Delivering the Promise of Design', DMI New York November 2012

1. design as an enabler of change
Kathryn Best
kathryn.best@btopenworld.com
Twi9er @kvbest

2. Design as an Enabler of Change
Business as usual is over, as a structural overhaul
of many systems, ins4tu4ons and business
processes takes place. In some cases, change is
inten4onal, and it others, change is inevitable.
1. What kind of future do we aspire to?
2. What are the benefits in shiFing our
perspecGve ‘by design’?
3. What kind of future can design inspire?
@kvbest

3. may you live in
interesGng Gmes
‘May you experience much
upheaval and trouble in
your life’.
UninteresGng Gmes of
peace and tranquility are
less life enhancing.

4. we live in interesGng Gmes
‐ n increased sense of community and responsibility
A
towards the environment and society.
‐ An increased demand for more transparency and acGve
parGcipaGon in poliGcs and the economy
‐ An increased familiarity with the technological tools
that enable people to connect, share, collaborate and
communicate in new ways – and have their voices heard.
the aspiraGon:
harmony and balance
@kvbest

5. we live in interesGng Gmes
social : technological : economic: environmental: poliGcal
the reality: resistance and imbalance
Industrial Economy | Knowledge Economy | Creative Economy | Wisdom Economy
@kvbest

6. 100% design
London 2012
@kvbest

7. finance

8. business as usual is meeGng resistance
People have had enough.
They know what they don’t want.
They are disillusioned with the
mainstream system.
They demand change, a clearing
out the old to make way for the
new.
‘It’s the public, not the corporaGons
that will determine the future’.
Yael Chanoff, SF Bay Guardian
@kvbest

9. Symbolic death: a change or transformaGon
‘…heralds the end of a familiar or more
comfortable mode… a release which is
necessary for growth and expansion… a
whole new set of guiding principles...’
‘The sunrise holds the promise of the
transformaGon which is about to take
place: the death of the old, but also the
dawning of a new day.'
‘We are at a "threshold"‐ a crossing into a
new phase, unbounded by the past'
@kvbest

10. Every business is in one of 5 cycles. (Tom Ferry)
under 3 yrs in
the business
‘the death of the
Start up
old’. Gme to go
back to start up
consistent lead
generaGon and
Restructuring Growth conversion
Fading
Cash cow
good agent, winner
stuck in the past,
falling behind 50% or higher
profits
@kvbest

11. resistant to change
‘Is there a be9er example of a
very good idea gone terribly
wrong? It is worse than having no
UN at all. If we had nothing we
could craF a new organisaGon
that actually worked. As it is, we
have this monstrosity that
masquerades as an effecGve
internaGonal body’
The Economist/Mangopop/Verbosity at the UN: Keep
Talking (9/26/12)
structurally ‘too big to fail’
@kvbest

12. open to change
Ray Anderson
Interface
‘Big business ‐ the only
insGtuGon large enough,
pervasive enough, and
powerful enough, to leave
mankind out…’
TED: The Business Logic of Sustainability
Restructured from the
bo9om up
Responsibility Accountability Transparency
@kvbest

13. start up: new/alternaGve model
(no change necessary)
‘a blossoming of alternaGves’
Yael Chanoff, SF Bay Guardian
‘12 ways the Occupy movement and other
major trends have offered a foundaGon for a
transformaGve future’ (Sarah van Gelder)
@kvbest

14. ‘a blossoming of alternaGves’
Project Censored: alternaGve sources of media
coverage; alternaGve economic models
@kvbest

15. from compeGGon to collaboraGon
A9racGng small businesses to Ireland and rewarding
people for introducing new connecGons.
@kvbest

16. from protecGon to expansion
CreaGve Commons, CreaGve Barcode
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17. from value to values
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18. from employment to engagement
apprenGceships
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19. from confusion to clarity
confusion sells more stuff and creates more waste
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20. from corporaGon to co‐operaGon
2012 the 1 billion
InternaGonal people world‐
Year of the wide now
CooperaGve work in
(UN)
co‐ops
@kvbest

21. Peter Drucker, Paradigm of Change
Environment
A business exist in all What is the What will the
business? business be?
3 states simultaneously
Traditional Transitional
Where is your strategy
taking you? What should the
business be?
Transformational
@kvbest

22. encouraging…
the past = where were/are (tradiGon)
the present = change (transiGon)
the future = tbd * (transformaGon)
* to be discussed, to be decided, to be designed
Where is the transforma4on and what
does it look like?
@kvbest

23. Big Visions
transiGons or transformaGons?
@kvbest

24. B. Fuller
bring a new
order of
things while
the old
structures
around are
falling apart.
@kvbest

25. transformaGon
a new model
an alternaGve reality
what kind of future do
we aspire to?
what kind of future
can design inspire?
What if?
@kvbest

26. design recap
A design (noun) has form and funcGon; it is the outcome
of the process of designing. To design (verb) is to plan, to
create or to devise. It is a process, a pracGce, and a way of
thinking.
noun verb
@kvbest

27. the UK’s creaGve economy
the link between creaGvity, innovaGon and design
• Crea%vity is the generaGon of new ideas – either a new
way of looking at exisGng problems or the discovery of
new opportuniGes.
• Innova%on is the exploitaGon of new ideas.
• Design is what links creaGvity and innovaGon – it shapes
the ideas so they become pracGcal and a9racGve
proposiGons for users and customers.
Cox Review of Crea4vity in Business: Building on the UK's Strengths. 2005. UK: HM Treasury
@kvbest

28. the creaGve industries
One of the best ways to increase compeGGve
advantage between
countries (through commercial companies (through
growing a creaGve the provision of innovaGve
culture, economy, skills products and services).
and talent)
CBI: the top country brands in the world
www.futurebrand.com Businessweek’s most innova4ve companies
Quality of life maHers!
@kvbest

29. design is big business
innovaGon
differenGaGon
compeGGve advantage
intellectual property
@kvbest

30. design is holisGc
When design effecGvely and creaGvely engages with cultural,
societal, environmental and business agendas, the results
are of benefit to people, products, processes and
organisaGonal cultures as a whole.
1. design as a product‐ 2. design as process 3. design as an influence
service‐system (facilitaGon, stakeholder on culture (new
(buildings, environments, parGcipaGon, proposiGons, sGmulate
goods, services) collaboraGon) innovaGon) @kvbest

31. design is about puqng people first
design as a methodology ‐ ‘fashionable’
Design, by its very nature, takes
a people-centred approach to
problem-solving.
Perhaps design is well Credit: Alec @ Taiwan
(Flickr/Creative Commons)
positioned to enable a more
integrative, holistic approach to
addressing contemporary
world challenges.
@kvbest

32. design is about puqng people first
design as a methodology ‐ ‘fashionable’
‘By putting people at the core of how products,
services and systems are designed, design as a
methodology was positioned as a way to bring
‘fresh thinking’ to debates about whether existing
(and collapsing) systems should be restored,
redefined or redesigned – systems which
ultimately define peoples daily interactions and
influence the quality of their life experience.’
http://www.dmi.org/dmi/html/publications/news/viewpoints/nv_vp_kb.htm
@kvbest

33. design thinking
‘a process trick’
Bruce Nussbaum:
‘..design thinking was limited by being turned into a linear, gated,
by‐the‐book methodology that delivered, at best, incremental
change and innovaGon….’
‘…be9er systems and processes (humanisGc design, social
innovaGons)….’
‘…as a process trick design thinking may have under‐delivered in
efficiency‐led business agendas for innovaGon and change…’
@kvbest

34. design is about puqng people first
design and well being
We are, literally, surrounded by design in
the culture of everyday life and in the
communities, objects, spaces and systems
we come in contact with every day.
Amidst the current times of change, and Credit: Alec @ Taiwan
because of this day-to-day familiarity, (Flickr/Creative Commons)
design as an approach could help identify a
different way of doing things, of
reconnecting everyday life back to what
people really value, and ultimately back to
our own core human values.
h9p://www.dmi.org/dmi/html/publicaGons/
@kvbest
news/viewpoints/nv_vp_kb.htm

35. design
a people‐centered transformaGonal process
1. How we envision and communicate the future; how our
needs, aspirations, decisions and behaviours will affect the look
and feel of the future (through scenarios, imagined worlds,
alternate models, alternate realities).
2. How we engage stakeholders in the process of change via
design tools and processes used to create and visualise
alternative futures (through design charettes and
collaborative workshops).
3. How we empower people (through envisioning and
engagement) to shift mind-sets from a traditional, to a
transitional, to a transformational way of seeing things.
@kvbest

36. If design can help companies change...
‘Design acGvity focused on innovaGon can
emphasize future strategies based on the
creaGon of desirable unknowns’.
Hatchuel, A., Starkey, K., Tempest, S., Le Masson, P. (2010), Strategy as Innova4ve Design: An Emerging Perspec4ve, in Professor
Brian Silverman (ed.) The Globaliza4on of Strategy Research (Advances in Strategic Management (Vol.27). Emerald Group
Publishing.
alternaGve products, services, experiences
@kvbest

37. design can help companies change
by
sGmulaGng different conversaGons
silo thinking ‘what if’ thinking
Planning and control SGmulate and facilitate
(departmental, compeGng for budgets) (reframing, parGcipatory)
@kvbest

38. then design can help people change...
‘Design acGvity focused on
transformaGon can emphasize future
strategies based on the creaGon of
desirable unknowns’.
alternaGve futures
alternaGve ways of living and being
@kvbest

39. What kind of future can design inspire?
a people‐centred transformaGonal process
1. envisioning the future
2. engaging stakeholders
3. shiFing how people see things
imagine alternate realiGes
@kvbest

40. virtual reality
(game design)
make it up
(programme) from
scratch
build models that
had no connecGon
to reality
anything is possible
@kvbest

41. Gravity
define the rules
programme in
gravity
‘flick a switch’ to
turn gravity on
and off
@kvbest

42. ‘what kind of world do you want?’
(HITLab)
define the rules
alternaGve realiGes
what if?
alternaGve ways of living and being?
new proposiGons?
@kvbest

43. What if copying was rewarded?
‘Don't Reinvent The Wheel, Steal It:
An Urban Planning Award for Ci%es That Copy’
‘CiGes around the world may all be
struggling with the same
problems… but a lack of dialogue
means that local governments rarely
copy each other’s successful ideas.
The world’s 567,000 mayors are
reinvenGng the wheel, every single
one of them with everything they do’.
Living Labs Global: encouraging collaboraGon
among the world’s ciGes @kvbest

44. What if we freely shared best pracGces globally?
Each year communiGes that have met at the Finals of The LivCom Awards have
exchanged Best PracGce and pracGcal experience and have joined forces to address
mutual challenges.
These partnerships have inevitably lead to mutual technical advances and more
effecGve use of resources, including finance, and the improvement of the quality of life
within a community.
sharing internaGonal best pracGce @kvbest

45. What if collaboraGon replaced compeGGon?
‘InnovaGon requires a huge leap of imaginaGon’
@kvbest

46. What if economics went back to
being ‘the science of living well’?
design for a circular economy @kvbest

47. what if poliGcs moved from debate to conversaGon?
@kvbest

48. What if you could turn poverty on and off?
What would it look and feel like? @kvbest

49. What if society was designed around well being?
@kvbest

50. What if the health of the people was the highest law?
@kvbest

51. What if there were no dumb people, only dumb
systems to which people have adapted?
@kvbest

52. What if we designed for a service (to others)
economy/society?
@kvbest

53. design can help companies and people
transform by presenGng:
‐ future scenarios, alternaGve choices
‐ aspiraGonal and inspiraGonal proposiGons (not
just pracGcal and a9racGve)
‐ new ways to do things
‐ envision: envisioning and communicaGng
‐ engage: engaging and empowering
‐ transform: transforming mind‐sets
@kvbest

54. ‘design is one approach to inquiry and acGon
amongst many used by humans to engage
with the world’ (Stolterman/Ball 2012)
@kvbest

55. the familiar (shiF mindsets form tradiGonal,
transiGonal to transformaGonal)….what if?

56. ‐ Use the familiarity of design to envision,
engage and transform.
‐ What kind of world do you want?
‐ hat would a be9er system look and feel like?
W
‐ nspiraGonal and aspiraGonal
i
thank you
‘Design as an Enabler of Change’
DMI News & Views May 2012
h9p://www.dmi.org/dmi/html/publicaGons/news/2012/
may2012newsandviews.htm
@kvbest