LCD Weekly Issue - 047 - To understand the world we need to go outside.

Mar 10

⛰️ Words from the mountains

To understand the world, we need to go outside.

How do you get a glimpse or experience Life-Centered Design (LCD)? Today, we share two exercises you can use to explore LCD. Let's get started.

Life-Centered Design starts in your environment, and taking action can have a significant impact.

The water bottle exercise:

Step 1. Find a water bottle outside

Go outside and search for a discarded plastic water bottle in your street or local neighbourhood.

💧 When you find "your" water bottle, follow these steps:

First, take a picture of the bottle in its natural state before picking it up, for example, near a road, next to a trash bin, or by a park bush (you get the idea).
Then, write down the first question that comes to your mind when you see the bottle.

Step 2. Explore the Ecosystem of the water bottle

Defining the scope of a project is a standard practice, but how can this be applied in the context of Life-Centered Design?

Taking a holistic approach and prioritizing nature equally with human considerations is important. Our Scope Framework can assist you in dividing the project scope into two key areas: Nature/Planet and Human/Society.

Let's begin by downloading the Scope Framework 👉 You can find it here.

Now, follow these three steps:

Write the question that popped out when you found the water bottle in the circle's centre.
Next, explore the Nature/Planet aspect of the scope by noting down any thoughts or questions that come to mind about nature and its relation to the central question. Add them to the top half.
Lastly, consider the Human/Society aspect of the scope by writing down any thoughts or questions that come to mind about society and its relation to the central question. Add them to the bottom half.

👇🏼 You can see an example of Picking Mushrooms in the Pyrenees below :

To understand the world as a designer, it sometimes is as simple as going outside and finding a water bottle, wondering where it was made, how it got to the place where you found it, and how it has impacted the world. Then, map it all in a mind map.

We would love to see you share your water bottle with the Ecosystem—Mindmap of the water bottle.

🐅 LCD In The Wild Flow - Movie

I went to the movies with my son to watch Flow this weekend. It is such a beautiful artistic masterpiece: there are no human voices, just animals communicating in their own ways. It is refreshing and inspirational.

"From the boundless imagination of filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis comes this thrilling animated spectacle, a wondrous journey through realms natural and mystical. A courageous cat teams up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog in search of dry land after their home is devastated by a great flood. Together they must rely on trust, courage, and wits to survive the perils of a newly aquatic planet."

🔥 Hot in the School Design Festival!

We've moved the dates to October 2-4, 2025!

We've partnered with our dear friends at Pupila to bring you an epic event in the mountains! Soon, the festival will have its official name, soul, and website 🥁🏔️.

Our three-day program is taking shape as an inspiring blend of design, art, and local wisdom from nature. The speakers and workshops are almost finalized, and we are honored to have such a diverse and inspirational lineup (more details on that soon).

Lastly, we're looking for sponsors! If you have a lead or are interested in sponsoring, please reply to this email.

We can't wait to host you in our paradise!

———

See you next Monday,

Jeroen and Marce

Jeroen Spoelstra

I am a passionate designer and mountain biker focusing on bringing people forward using a human centered approach. As a designer you could call what I do Social Design, but nowadays there are hundreds of different design names. So for me I am a designer and try to be humble to the world. I like solving issues together with other people in co-design and I love helping people reach there goals.

I find inspiration in mountain biking, traveling and in my current home the Spanish Pyrenees. I use sports, traveling and being outside to get inspired for my work as a designer.

Design to me is constantly shitifing between making meaningful products to creating impactful and real solutions/ approaches/ business that can make a difference.

The Design profession shouldn’t solely be reserved for the designer (in developed world), but for everyone! I design for impact and help people bring out their little designer in himself or herself. I am not saying everyone should become a designer, but I do think people can use a little bit of design to help themselves forward in their personal/ professional life.

https://www.unbeatenstudio.com