As a designer, I want to contribute to the challenge of making the world a more sustainable place. However, sustainability is an extensive topic, and one designer cannot focus on all. The United Nations created 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to make the world a sustainable planet (United Nations, 2020c). Within these 17 SDGs, there are two targets I want to contribute to as a designer: No. 12: Responsible production and consumption and No. 13: Climate action. Specifically, these two targets as they are related to my skillset, interests and resources.
The world is heading to a climate humanity has never experienced (Mommers, 2019). As it will probably take decades to come to the point that the climate is in balance again, humans must change or adapt their lifestyles in the meantime. Per SDG, I specifically want to focus on one target in relation to changing or adapting to sustainable lifestyles. - Target eight of SGD no. 12 ensures that people worldwide have access to sustainable development and can live in balance with nature (United Nations, 2020b). - Target three of SDG no. 13 focuses on improving awareness and education about climate change to cause impact reduction and early warnings (United Nations, 2020a).
Design is everywhere around us, influencing and inspiring the actions in our daily lives. Regarding climate change, the problems are often significant and can feel overwhelming. How can people know what to do, know how to make an impact and transition from an unsustainable to a sustainable lifestyle? As designers, we have the ability to converge significant problems into accessible bits.
There is a lot of scientific information to be found on climate change. However, that is not what will make the change. To quote Gus Septh: “One of the largest environmental problems are egoism, greed and apathy. There is a need for a spiritual and cultural transformation and we scientists do not know how to do this” (Godin, 2022). We need designers to support this tradition as designers are trained to look at a challenge from multiple stakeholder perspectives and bring them together. There is no good or bad in the efforts made for climate change if we try to do better. We, as designers, are the ones to support the transition from past and current behaviours towards future-proof behaviours. Another inspiring quote relating to this is from Alan Kay: “The best way to predict the future is to invent her” (Godin, 2022).
Even though climate change demands an urgent change in our society, having a positive mindset will bring society further than acting out of fear. Therefore, my designs should communicate this positivity to inspire and motivate people to change. Besides, they should guide people in the transition towards a future-proof lifestyle. Next to this, societal problems tend to feel irrelevant to people. To tackle this, designers can focus on translating the problem into something people can relate to. By enhancing a positive experience and making societal challenges relatable, I believe that people can adapt to future circumstances or counteract arising issues.
Together we have to create a world where we can live comfortably yet in balance with nature.
Mommers, J. (2019). Hoe gaan we dit uitleggen (3rd ed.). de Correspondent. Godin, S. (2022). De klimaatalmanak (1st ed.). Haystack.
United Nations. (2020a, August 11). Climate Change. United Nations Sustainable Development. Retrieved 23 June 2022, from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/climate-change/
United Nations. (2020b, August 11). Sustainable consumption and production. United Nations Sustainable Development. Retrieved 23 June 2022, from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-consumption-production/ United Nations. (2020c, September 19). Take Action for the Sustainable Development Goals. United Nations Sustainable Development. Retrieved 23 June 2022, from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/
I feel a significant responsibility to minimise my impact on climate change. Therefore, I made several lifestyle changes, such as adopting a plant-based diet, teaching myself to sew my clothes, reducing my plastic use, and other things. Discussing these changes with people, I often experience a lot of mixed feelings. Most people are very positive towards my behaviour but do not see how they could do similar things. People mention that they see sustainable behaviour change as a big or radical change. From this, I often find myself in conversations listening to people's challenges and try to help them.
To inspire and motivate people toward sustainable behaviour, it is necessary to observe situations objectively and discover people's motivations behind their actions. One of my strengths is being a great listener and having open conversations without judgment. My analytical mindset allows me to easily map different needs and view projects from a helicopter view. This strength allows me to dive deeper into people's motives, which can support my decisions in the design process. At the start of my projects, I conduct a lot of research to ensure I am well-informed on the topic. This allows me to have an overview of the challenge. Once I have established sufficient background knowledge, I continue with the ideating concepts for the challenge. Researching before ideation ensures my project stays realistic, which I value in my designs.
My design processes are shaped to match the project goal. Even though I already have an understanding of many design methods, such as scenario thinking, prototyping, and user studies, I am constantly exploring and learning about new design methods. My goal is not to excel in a few methods, but to have an extensive understanding of several methods, enabling me to decide which method fits the project goal the best. Matching the best method to the project goal will help my projects reach their full potential, supporting my vision of contributing to a sustainable planet.
To flourish as a designer, I need people in my environment who can challenge my design decisions and spark my thoughts with exciting perspectives. I work very structured and communicative. Therefore, I often take on the facilitating role in projects. In discussions, I am a listener who analyses perspectives and formulates conclusions to keep moving forward. In my future career, I work in an open-minded environment surrounded by creative and sustainability-oriented people.
To continuously develop myself, I focus on expanding my knowledge by researching, engaging with users to add more perspectives to my work, learning new methods and, most importantly, reflecting on my progress to ensure I develop myself in line with my vision.