Design to Action: Building Innovation and Impact

A Framework for Design to Action and Principles for Designing in Action

Design Lab @ UC San Diego

Authors: Michèle Morris, Associate Director & James White, Head of Studios, UC San Diego Design Lab

The Winter 2026 series, Design to Action: Building Innovation and Impact, traced the arc from a spark of an idea to its lasting impact. We were less interested in innovation as a success story but rather the real work behind it actually requires. The listening, the coalition-building, the friction of scaling, and the discipline of embedding work into systems that can carry them forward beyond their origins.

This white paper is a reflection of that exploration and an argument for the model itself. We offer it not as a conclusion, but as a starting point for other communities, institutions, and practitioners who believe design can be a powerful and practical force for change.