LCD Weekly Issue - 029 - Let’s bring friction into design!

⛰️ Words from the mountains

Let's bring friction into design.

As designers, we try to make everyday life more accessible and comfortable for people by removing obstacles and making products, services, and experiences easier to use, lighter, and more ideal in each iteration. As Thorsten Jonas writes in this article, striving for perfection comes at a cost.

"By seeking perfection for somebody or something, we always take from somebody else. Perfection is not an absolute state. It is just one perspective in a complex, bigger system. The perfect solution always comes with negative impacts on other elements / players in the system. Seeking perfection creates injustice by default. Because perfection is a very exclusive and egoistic concept. Because it always prioritized the perfect state for someone or something over the impacts on other actors in the surrounding ecosystem." - Thorsten Jonas

Next to Thorsten's point, striving to make every experience frictionless makes life a bit more tiresome each time. Take our consumption of culture, for example. Before Spotify, we had to buy our music songs or albums by album. You had to talk with people for recommendations.

Now, Spotify, YouTube, and all the other social media platforms' algorithms recommend your next song, video, or piece of content based on what you have seen frictionlessly, making it hard to discover new types of music.

In his book Filterword, How Algorithms Flattened Culture, Kyle Chyaka writes: "While we have the advantage of the freedom of choice, the endless array of options presented by algorithmic feeds often instils a sense of meaninglessness."

We have gone way too far in making life frictionless wherever we can. This creates a monotone global culture, pushing local cultures aside, and heavily impacts underrepresented communities and nature. I suggest incorporating friction into the things we design to make people's lives more meaningful and exciting and make them feel alive. We have to understand better when good is good enough.

Let's design what helps people reflect, express, regenerate, and be purposeful.

🐅 LCD in the Wild - Buzz Women

Last week, during my trip to the Netherlands, I had the pleasure of attending a presentation by Uthara Narayanan, Co-founder of Buzz Women. It was more than inspirational; how they empower women to take control of their lives is truly remarkable!

"Buzz Women: is a movement from the heart. More than 600.000 women worldwide, different in culture and background, united by the wish to take control of their own lives. To get behind the wheel of progress. Connected through their inner strength and solidarity.

We focus on the areas of your life that matter most. We have learnt to approach progress holistically. During our trainings we therefore focus on 5 crucial elements that drive progress: cash, confidence, climate, care and community."

🪄 Inspiration-  Living with the seasons. Articles.

Have you ever heard of seasonal living? We were inspired to share this topic as we welcome Autumn in the northern hemisphere.

Since we moved to the Pyrenees almost seven years ago, we've embraced the seasons' rhythm. It happened naturally, as living surrounded by nature guided our way of life and transitioned us into the different seasons.

Today, we share two articles on the benefits of living seasonally: Unlocking the Benefits of Seasonal Living: A Guide to Living in Harmony with the Seasons & Nature, and how Living Seasonally Is a Great Way To Reap Longevity Benefits Year-Round.

If you haven't already, you can implement some of these ideas and stay connected with nature throughout the year.

🔥 Hot in the School - Shifting from Human to Life-Centered Design Fundamentals Course. 

Our Fundamentals course on Shifting from Human to Life-Centered Design starts on October 11, 2024. Over the past years, we are proud to have created a beautiful community of worldwide participants.

"I haven't felt so excited in such a long time. This course is giving me challenges, giving me a new perspective and making me re-think my approach to my surroundings! Super happy to be part of this." 

- Tatiana Chajin Cian - Senior Service Designer Accenture.

Life-Centered design gives you the mindset and skills to include all life forms in your work and advocate for biological ecosystems and invisible communities.

"Completing the course really helped me broaden my perspective of design and provided the right tools to start applying this to the design thinking process. It's perfect timing to adopt this mindset in the current state of the world."

- Lovisa Boberg - Senior UX Researcher at Klarna

If you're considering joining us, you're still on time! Feel free to ask for more details about the course here, or jump right in and start your Life-Centered Design journey!

Important details: 

• The course starts on October 11 and ends on November 22, 2024.

• We offer a maximum of 15 spots (10 available.)

• The duration is seven weeks, and we meet every Friday for an interactive session via Zoom from 3 pm to 5:30 pm CET.

• We will have one or two groups, depending on the participants' time zones. If you can't make it to one session, no worries; we upload the recordings every Monday. 

• You will have access to our beautiful online environment, which is full of theory, exercises, inspiration, thought-provoking questions, and more. 

• We have a fantastic international WhatsApp community and a specific group for Cohort 5, where we can communicate anytime.

• You will get a one-on-one coaching session focused on your project. 

• The time investment is around 2,5 hours (online design sessions), plus 2-5 hours per week of your time.

• We have two experts joining two of our sessions. The past participants enjoyed this! 

• And, of course, you will receive a certificate of completion. 

Payment details: 

• The total price of the course is 995 euros, excluding VAT. 

• We offer the option to pay in two terms (one before the course starts and one halfway through the course.) 

• We offer scholarships covering 60% of tuition fees with 3 spots available.

• Reimbursement options are possible, and we can work with your company to enrol you! 

🤗 Consider this a personal invitation to get in touch with us. Feel free to email us at info@lifecentereddesign.school to schedule a course tour or a video call. We look forward to hearing from you!

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That is all of this week! See you next Monday!

Jeroen and Marce