LCD Weekly Issue - 004 - Co-Design
Do you design for someone, or do you design with someone?
🏔️ Words from the mountains
My University degree is in Industrial Design Engineering, and there, I learned to create for an end-user. My education took place in the era of "the signature designer", where everything revolves around them. I looked up to these Design Gods (that is what you do as a young designer/ design student). But mostly, I didn't understand the fuss. I was inspired more by what my dad did. As a Facility Manager at the Dutch National Post and Telecom in the 90s, he easily navigated the organization. He worked with all levels, from the postman to the CEO, involving them in his work. My dad's humbleness inspired me to serve a user, a community and Nature in my design work.
Co-design is a form of research and design where you involve actants relevant to the ecosystem of your project. You invite users, community members, specialists of a specific topic, entrepreneurs, policymakers, representatives of a biological ecosystem, species and other designers into your design space through workshops or immersive experiences. Together, you gather data, design new strategies or set up collaborations. The Co-Design Canvas by Wina Smeenk is a great way to start your collaborations.
Our LCD framework consists of 3 spaces: CONVERSATION, CO-CREATION and REGENERATION, giving Co-Design a central role in Life-Centered Design. When you include the ecosystem in your design work, you must collaborate and design with others, both human and more-than-human.
This asks for a more facilitative & participatory mindset from the designer. You are still very much a designer, but you have to design a co-design session first, facilitate that session second and translate the outcomes into usable designs or design strategies. You want to repeat that several times, either with different actant groups or with the same group but in different phases in your design project.
I can endlessly talk about Co-design, but I leave it by this for now. In a future LCD Weekly, I go more in-depth about this topic.
🐅 LCD in the Wild - Faith In Nature
When co-designing with Nature, you might as well take Nature on your organization's board. That is precisely what Faith In Nature did. They have been selling beauty products since 1974, and in 2023, they took Nature on their board. They also created a guide for taking Nature on your board.
The Ceuvel
Another great example is De Ceuvel, a sustainable planned workplace for creative and social enterprises on a former shipyard of the river IJ in Amsterdam North. Old houseboats have been placed on heavily polluted soil; the workspaces are fitted with clean technologies. At the end of 2023, they created a Zoöperation, which is a cooperation that also includes non-human actants in their organizational structure.
🪄 Inspiration- The Domestic Data Streamers
The Domestic Data Streamers are a creative studio from Barcelona that uses art, data, design & research to create installations and exhibitions that seek active involvement from the public. They work on topics like life & death, emotions in a cancer centre, humanizing the internet, homelessness, etc.
In one of their recent projects, they recreated an entire apartment on a street in the l'Hospitalet neighbourhood in Barcelona. The installation invited people walking by to think about how to support older members of their community.
To actually create some action, you need stories, not just numbers.
🔥 Hot in the school- Course and Retreat!
🐝 Enrollment Open!
Our Fundamentals Course, Shifting from Human-Centered to Life-Centered Design is open for enrollment. Spots are filling up quickly! We have 6 spots left, and one has your name on it!
This fundamentals course is your gateway to becoming a proficient Life-Centered Designer. Here, you'll acquire the essential tools, methodology, and perspective required for the journey. Explore how to address pressing climate and societal issues while integrating biological ecosystems, non-human personas, and non-user communities into your design approach.
The moment to take action is now! Enrol today!
🏔️ Life-Centered Design Retreat
Want to live with us in the Spanish Pyrenees for a week?
The Life-Centered Design Retreat dates are out! Join us for an exclusive design immersion on May 19-24, 2024. With only 4/5 spots available, we will ensure this will be an unforgettable (design) experience. Sign up to the waiting list here.
👋 See you next Monday!
Jeroen
