Design Thinking Roundtable

Liz Gerber is a professor at Northwestern University, co-director of Northwestern’s Center for Human Computer Interaction + Design, and faculty founder of Design for America, a national award-winning network of interdisciplinary students who work together to solve problems they care about in their community. Liz works at the works at the intersection of design, social computing, and organizational behavior to understand the future of collaboration and in particular. for social impact. Gerber co-directs the Delta Lab whose mission is to create technology-based systems to enhance learning, collaboration, and performance. Gerber has received awards for her research and teaching from the National Science Foundation, MacArthur, Mozilla Foundations, Microsoft and Smithsonian. Liz was the Fall 2023 Social Innovator in Residence with the ERA Chair in Social Innovation and the DESIS Lab at NOVA SBE. Follow Liz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizgerber/ and Twitter: elizgerber To learn more about Liz's work: lizgerber.com  To learn more about Design for America: designforamerica.com  Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: Claudio Silva Music: Guilhem Tamisier Art work: Guilhem Tamisier The Podcast was recorded and produced in the Fidelidade Creative Studio @ Nova SBE

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

Isaac is the founder of Mideva Labs - a research, design and innovation consultancy studio based in Nairobi Kenya, and a co-founder of Idea Studio Africa - a community-powered learning, skills development and apprenticeship studio helping young professionals build meaningful career pathways in innovation and entrepreneurship. Isaac previously co-founded the Africa YES Program - a 6-month leadership and entrepreneurship accelerator program for young social entrepreneurs in Kenya, which has supported over 80 entrepreneurs to launch social ventures since 2019. Isaac has over 8 years of experience working in the design, social innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem across Africa and supporting initiatives around the world, including working for openIDEO - IDEO’s open innovation platform that supported innovators across the globe to solve some of the biggest world’s challenges. Isaac has a passion for designing with and working with communities and young people to achieve impact and is interested in exploring ways to rethink learning and in investment in young people and their ideas for a better future. Isaac was the Spring 2023 Social Innovator in Residence with the ERA Chair in Social Innovation and the DESIS Lab at NOVA SBE. Follow Isaac on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isaacjumba/ Twitter: @Isaacjumba  Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: Claudio Silva Music: Guilhem Tamisier Art work: Guilhem Tamisier The Podcast was recorded and produced in the Fidelidade Creative Studio @ Nova SBE  

Harmonie Coleman is a Senior Community Engagement Manager at IDEO.org. In this role, she collaborates closely with design teams, partners, and local community members to advance equitable practices in design research and community co-design methods across the organization. She specializes in designing transformative experiences, healing-centered facilitation, participatory design methods, and recruiting community members with lived experience. Her past experiences as a teacher and community organizer both deepen her expertise and ground her current work and interests. Harmonie has a Master of Education from Harvard University and a Bachelor in Psychology and Race and Difference Studies from Emory University. In this episode, Harmonie shared her views on community and intentional relationship building, and stressed the need to move from transactive interactions to intentional relationship. She illustrated the value of intentional relationship building by sharing two projects she worked on with families and youth who have been impacted by the child welfare system. She discussed how the distinctions between participatory design, community design and co-design were not necessarily generative. Instead, she invites us to focus on the "how" and practice, rather than the labels. Last, we discussed adrienne maree brown's work and how the notion of emergent strategy informs Harmonie's work. I asked Harmonie to share some recommended readings: Thick, Tressie McMillan CottomThe Art of Gathering, Priya ParkerEmergent Strategy, adrienne maree brownHow We Show Up, Mia BirdsongHolding Change, adrienne maree brownAbolishing the Cop in Your [Designer's] Head, Sarah Fathallah and A.D. Sean Lewis https://designmuseumfoundation.org/abolish-the-cop-inside-your-designers-head/ Read Harmonie's essay "On Community": https://www.ideo.org/perspective/on-community-harmonie-coleman Follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harmonie-coleman-a42b25155/ Credits: Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: Claudio Silva Music & Art Work: Guilhem Tamisier

Ezio Manzini  is one of the world's leading and provocative thinkers in design for sustainability and social innovation — considered a major driver of sustainable changes. These two joint interests led him to start DESIS: an international network of schools of design specifically active in the field of design for social innovation and sustainability. Currently, Ezio is President of DESIS Network and Honorary Professor at the Politecnico di Milano. He has been guest professor in several design schools world-wide such as Elisava-Design School and Engineering (Barcelona), Tongji University (Shanghai), University of the Arts (London), CPUT (Cape town), and Parsons - The new School for Design (NYC). Ezio has written many books and papers on service design and social innovation. His most recent books are: 'Design, When Everybody Designs', 'Politics of the Everyday’ and lately 'Livable Proximity’. In this episode, Ezio invites us to reimagine the role of design in building a sustainable and resilient world. In particular, he talks about how our contemporary society has become a “careless society” and how design can help create conditions that afford care and nurture relations. He highlights the complex relation between care and proximity and based on his most recent book, discusses the notion of livable proximity and how a city that cares look like. Finally, he discusses the notion of social innovation, and stresses that if there is value in emergent, bottom-up social innovation, we need to nurture them and that this requires a new type of social infrastructure. To learn more about DESIS: https://www.desisnetwork.org/ Credits: Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: Claudio Silva Music & Art Work: Guilhem Tamisier

Bon Ku, an emergency physician and design pioneer at Thomas Jefferson University, delves into the intersection of design and healthcare. He highlights the transformative power of human-centered design in medical education and its role in improving patient experiences. Bon discusses innovative solutions from the COVID-19 crisis, like 3D-printed swabs, and the importance of collaboration in addressing healthcare disparities. He emphasizes the need for creativity in medicine and how simple design can enhance safety and communication in healthcare settings.

In this episode, our guest was Laetitia Wolff,  a creative strategist, design curator, published author, and self-described cultural engineer and the former director of strategic initiatives at AIGA in NY. Laetitia lives, works and teaches in the South of France following 20+ years spent in New York. She consults and creates projects that generate new discourses, meaningful practices and experiences using design as a tool for social change, impact, and innovation. She brings design to cities, through research-action projects, curated programs, and citizen engagement initiatives. She teaches at Besign, The Sustainable Design School, design impact and partnership-based courses to imagine the creative strategies for tomorrow’s territories. In our conversation, Laetitia shared her perspective about design as a tool for social change, impact and innovation and how her design work focused on cities understood as an intertwinement of spatial, social and relational dimensions. She stressed the importance of multi-disciplinary approaches and of multi-stakeholder engagement. Laetitia shared her passion for amplifying the voices of individuals and communities who are unheard. Last, all her projects illustrated the value of learning by doing. To learn more about Laetitia's work: https://www.laetitiawolff.design/ Follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laetitia-wolff-31a6193/ Credits: Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: Claudio Silva Music: Guilhem Tamisier Art work: Guilhem Tamisier

Karine Sarkissian is a founding partner at Tamar Capital (2016), a single-family office based between the Middle East, the UK, and the US. She oversees the FO’s Impact and Venture portfolio. Designer and Design Strategist by background, Karine has extensive experience in social innovation for urban and economic development initiatives within New York City and Internationally. Leveraging her expertise, she co-founded Le Studio as part of Tamar Capital to actively support portfolio companies and investors alike through design, impact measurement, and strategy development. Since inception 2 years ago, Le Studio has supported more than 50 aspiring entrepreneurs across 4 continents. Karine also co-created and co-facilitated the Open IDEO NYC Chapter, served as a Design for America mentor to graduate students within New York University, as well as a Hult Prize accelerator mentor. She often freelances as a graphic designer and illustrator, and spends most of her time outside or in the ocean. Karine was the Fall 2022 Social Innovator in Residence with the ERA Chair in Social Innovation and the DESIS Lab at NOVA SBE. Follow Karine on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/karinesarkissian/ and Twitter: @karinesark Learn more about her work at Tamar Capital: https://tamar.capital/ and Le Studio https://lestudio.io/  Discover her portfolio: http://karinesarkissian.com Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: Claudio Silva Music: Guilhem Tamisier Art work: Guilhem Tamisier The Podcast was recorded and produced in the Fidelidade Creative Studio @ Nova SBE

Tales of the Field is a podcast series which gives voice to social activists and social innovators who work in and with their communities to create social impact and sustainable change. They share with us their work in the field - where they  tackle complex social issues and aim to create sustainable change and social impact. At its core, their work is human-centered, systemic and always informed by a deep understanding of the context and people’s lives. In this episode, we talked with Tonya Gayle, Executive Director of Green City Force (GCF) and an advocate for economic justice for young people of color. She led GCF’s development team from July 2014 to September 2020 when she became GCF's Executive Director. She is a board member of The Corps Network focused on national service, and Environmental Advocates of NY focused on environmental justice. Prior to joining GCF, Tonya served in public-private partnerships at the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) Career Program. Tonya is a member of The New York Women’s Foundation Circle of Sisters for Social Change, a graduate of Wesleyan University, and a native Brooklynite. She is an associate producer of the 2006 documentary The Perfect Life featuring young adults from Harlem. Co-conception and Voice: Melchior Tamisier-Fayard Co-conception and Production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design, Music and Post-production: Guilhem Tamisier Artwork: Jyoti Tamisier-Fayard

In this episode, I talked with Joana Casaca Lemos, a design researcher passionate about sustainability innovation. Joana runs an independent practice where she supports organisations in ensuring that sustainability is at the forefront of business. She is currently launching Unusual Research - the first global collective of creatives with sustainability expertise. Joana shared with me her view on design for sustainability and related terms like planet-centered design and circular design. The organizations Joana works with are increasingly interested in getting help in making their products and services more sustainable and how this also involves an internal cultural transformation. She emphasized the complexity of the term sustainability and invites us to always make sure to ask for sustainability for what purpose and for whom. Last, she talked about the "qualities" of social businesses and the role they can play in design. Follow Joana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanacasacalemos/?originalSubdomain=pt And on her website: http://www.joanacasacalemos.com/ Credits: Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: Claudio Silva Music: Guilhem Tamisier Art work: Guilhem Tamisier