Kristian Simsarian (IDEO)

Five Design Roles to Awaken Collective Creativity

Designers are playing an increasingly important role in shaping products, work, culture and nearly all aspects of life. For example, in the last election and since, we have seen how critical the role of design and technology can be in gaining, gaming and governing political power. Taking long and short-term action in these divided times has never felt more important. While technology fuels this impact, interaction designers are the humanizing shapers of technology. The starting place for a design response is you. How you approach the challenges is just as important as the particular challenge you take on. In response I offer a four step process to resist and create like a designer and five creative roles that designers can assume. I will illustrate the roles with stories from the field showing the different roles work to create business, social and cultural change. Ultimately, I believe in the inherent specialness of designers, and our mission to humanize technology, benefit society and to begin to awaken our collective creativity.