I believe that the future of society will have to revolve around big changes. Changes in our behaviour, our interactions, our ways of working, our practices. Designers can be both the initiators of these changes and the facilitators of people adapting to them.

The designers of the future should provoke, empower, engage, and inspire people. They can enable individuals to make better, more socially or ecologically sustainable choices. This could be achieved through more mindful and meaningful interactions with the world around them. Designing for aesthetic and rich interactions that immerse users could spark this change. Furthermore, designers can visualize, materialize, and help others imagine future scenarios—empowering stakeholders while connecting them in ways that provoke transformation.

To address complex ‘wicked problems’—such as social issues or challenges related to human and more-than-human welfare, or the climate—designers must actively involve users at different levels. Only by engaging deeply with stakeholders can we begin to tackle these issues. These problems often evolve quickly and unexpectedly, so we need ways of working that reflect and adapt to these changes. Designers are well placed to do this by embracing the open-endedness often inherent in the design process and bringing this mindset into other professions. The focus should be on resolutions rather than solutions.

In this context, I value the lasting impact of design projects. Creating designs that directly facilitate iteration or indirectly inspire future projects. For the work to live on beyond the projects’ bounds.

Continuous and critical reflection will be needed both in and outside of design processes. To be able to adapt and respond to changes.
To live up to this vision, designers should: embrace open-endedness, develop their critical eye, not be afraid to provoke, focus on activating and involving stakeholders, and facilitate and inspire others to build on their work.