Design Thinking Roundtable

Tales of the Field is a podcast series which gives voice to social activists and social innovators who work in and with their communities to create social impact and sustainable change. They share with us their work in the field - where they  tackle complex social issues and aim to create sustainable change and social impact. At its core, their work is human-centered, systemic and always informed by a deep understanding of the context and people’s lives.

In this episode, we talked with Gilbert Nkpeniyeng, who after working as a program officer with Amplio Network, is currently doing his MPhil in Development Studies at Cambridge University (UK). Gilbert passionately believes that access to knowledge can change people's lives. He shares his personal experience with the Amplio Talking Book, an audio device designed for users with low literacy, he encountered while in primary school. He also tells about a project he implemented with women producing shea butter in Northern Ghana highlighting how all community members were involved.

Tales of the Field is a podcast series which gives voice to social activists and social innovators who work in and with their communities to create social impact and sustainable change. They share with us their work in the field - where they  tackle complex social issues and aim to create sustainable change and social impact. At its core, their work is human-centered, systemic and always informed by a deep understanding of the context and people’s lives.

Liz Gerber is a professor at Northwestern University, co-director of Northwestern’s Center for Human Computer Interaction + Design, and faculty founder of Design for America, a national award-winning network of interdisciplinary students who work together to solve problems they care about in their community. Liz works at the works at the intersection of design, social computing, and organizational behavior to understand the future of collaboration and in particular. for social impact. Gerber co-directs the Delta Lab whose mission is to create technology-based systems to enhance learning, collaboration, and performance. Gerber has received awards for her research and teaching from the National Science Foundation, MacArthur, Mozilla Foundations, Microsoft and Smithsonian.

Liz was the Fall 2023 Social Innovator in Residence with the ERA Chair in Social Innovation and the DESIS Lab at NOVA SBE.

Harmonie Coleman is a Senior Community Engagement Manager at IDEO.org. In this role, she collaborates closely with design teams, partners, and local community members to advance equitable practices in design research and community co-design methods across the organization. She specializes in designing transformative experiences, healing-centered facilitation, participatory design methods, and recruiting community members with lived experience. Her past experiences as a teacher and community organizer both deepen her expertise and ground her current work and interests. Harmonie has a Master of Education from Harvard University and a Bachelor in Psychology and Race and Difference Studies from Emory University.

In this episode, Harmonie shared her views on community and intentional relationship building, and stressed the need to move from transactive interactions to intentional relationship. She illustrated the value of intentional relationship building by sharing two projects she worked on with families and youth who have been impacted by the child welfare system. She discussed how the distinctions between participatory design, community design and co-design were not necessarily generative. Instead, she invites us to focus on the "how" and practice, rather than the labels. Last, we discussed adrienne maree brown's work and how the notion of emergent strategy informs Harmonie's work.

I asked Harmonie to share some recommended readings:

Bon Ku is an emergency physician, professor and host of the Design Lab podcast. He is the Assistant Dean for Health and Design and leads the Medicine+Design initiatives at Thomas Jefferson University. As the Director of the Health Design Lab, he created the first design thinking program at a medical school. Bon is creating design-minded solutions to improve patient health. Bon co-wrote the book, Health Design Thinking, with Ellen Lupton and was a regular panelist on the primetime medical TV show Chasing the Cure with Ann Curry. In this episode, Bon talks about the role of design and prototyping in the development of products and services for better health care. He discusses medical education and design and explains how the Health Design Lab empowers future doctors to redesign healthcare services, physical spaces and medical devices. Bon stresses the need for more creativity in medical education and medicine. We also talk about collaboration and co-creation and how essential it is to design a better health system.

Tales of the Field is a podcast series which gives voice to social activists and social innovators who work in and with their communities to create social impact and sustainable change. They share with us their work in the field - where they  tackle complex social issues and aim to create sustainable change and social impact. At its core, their work is human-centered, systemic and always informed by a deep understanding of the context and people’s lives.

In this episode, I talked with Joana Casaca Lemos, a design researcher passionate about sustainability innovation. Joana runs an independent practice where she supports organisations in ensuring that sustainability is at the forefront of business. She is currently launching Unusual Research - the first global collective of creatives with sustainability expertise. Joana shared with me her view on design for sustainability and related terms like planet-centered design and circular design. The organizations Joana works with are increasingly interested in getting help in making their products and services more sustainable and how this also involves an internal cultural transformation. She emphasized the complexity of the term sustainability and invites us to always make sure to ask for sustainability for what purpose and for whom. Last, she talked about the "qualities" of social businesses and the role they can play in design.

Tales of the Field is a podcast series which gives voice to social activists and social innovators who work in and with their communities  to create social impact and sustainable change. They share with us their work in the field - where they  tackle complex social issues and aim to create sustainable change and social impact. At its core, their work is human-centered, systemic and always informed by a deep understanding of the context and people’s lives.

Lisbeth Shepherd is Entrepreneur in Residence at MIT's designX and Visiting Lecturer at MIT's School of Architecture and Planning. Her work focuses on how "climate corps" in cities can promote environmental and economic justice. 

Shepherd co-founded the Green City Force (GCF) in 2009 to address the dual imperatives of youth unemployment and climate change.She previously coordinated the Clean Energy Corps working group at Green for All, and co-founded Unis-Cité, the leading national youth service program in France. She is an Echoing Green alum, Draper Richards Kaplan Fellow, Audubon “Woman Greening the City,” and White House Youth Jobs+ Champion of Change.

Lisbeth's interests center on "climate corps" the organized efforts of young adults, in particular those in frontline communities most affected by climate change and unemployment, that provide a platform for service, training and leadership for young people on a path to engaging careers in the green economy."

Lisbeth was the Spring 2022 Social Innovator in Residence with the ERA Chair in Social Innovation and the DESIS Lab at NOVA SBE.

In this episode, I talked with Ayah Younis, a human centered-designer for social change. With 10-year experience in education in museums, she employs innovative tools and play methods to design learning experiences for children and adults. Ayah shared with me her work using human-centered design to create meaningful experiences in museums as well as in the health centers in Jordan and the region. She emphasized the power of play in reducing boundaries and creating a safe environment. Ayah also highlighted the value of iteration and rapid prototyping in helping create impactful solutions reminding us that human-centered design is a mindset that we need to fully embrace. Last, she invited designers working in international development like her to build relationships and dialogue with all stakeholders.

Read Trajectories of international development, a roundtable to which Aya participated with Sarah Fathallah and Robert Fabricant

It was reproduced in an edited volume Design for social innovation case studies from around the world (2022), eds. by M. Amatullo, B. Boyer, J. May and A. Shea):  https://www.routledge.com/Design-for-Social-Innovation-Case-Studies-from-Around-the-World/Amatullo-Boyer-May-Shea/p/book/9780367898427

Follow Ayah on LinkedIn: 

In this episode, I talked with Eric Ho, co-founder and Director of Architecture Commons based in Hong Kong, a design agency for urban innovation. Eric is an architect, entrepreneur, and urban thinker passionate about architecture and urban environments that have a lasting impact on society. He  described civic design projects he led in New York and in Hong Kong. Eric emphasized the value of cross-sector collaboration (citizens, businesses, institutions and governments) for social innovation while highlighting associated challenges and suggesting that design thinking can be a language to support collaboration. Last, Eric reflected on the challenges to move from design thinking to design doing and social impact. 

In this episode, I talked with Javiera Arenas, a design strategist and service designer, from Chile, working at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York. Javi reflected on her practice in designing holistic healthcare experiences. She highlighted the need to take a system view and engage all stakeholders in the process.  While acknowledging the difficulties inherent to designing holistic experiences, she also provided great stories on how to use participatory design to co-create spaces that support those who are experiencing a difficult time.