Design for government, climate and science

Sara Camnasio is a multi-disciplinary designer and researcher focused on government (public services), science, and climate projects. Her work spans from integrating design mindsets into environmental and conservation projects, creating educational curricula to engage students on STEAM topics, to helping improve public and private services and products.  After spending 5 years conducting Astrophysics research at the American Museum of Natural History and at telescopes around the world for 5 years, Sara decided to dive into design to apply design thinking methods to science and conservation projects. She’s been a National Geographic Explorer since 2015, and through this community, she has led and co-led several international projects focused on conservation and environmental education. Currently, she is helping grow Human-centered design and co-design practices at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in the US Federal Government. She also runs the Sonoma County Feminist Bird Club – a growing community of friendly bird nerds who care about the outdoors and social justice.

In this episode, Sara explains how she combines in her work service design with participatory approaches to help people engage more deeply and more consciously with the world around them. She stresses how design shapes all our interactions – with objects, technology, humans, and nature, and therefore has a role to play in addressing issues we are facing like climate change. We discussed how design can help translate complexity and identify and frame what problem to solve, and the role of the designer as a facilitator and storyteller. Sara emphasizes the need for designers to think of unintended consequences and be reflexive about their practice; design being in the end a deeply political practice.

To learn more about Sara's work, check her website: https://www.saracamnasio.com/

Follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saracamnasio/

Credits:

Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard

Sound design & Post-production: Claudio Silva

Music & Art Work: Guilhem Tamisier