How do you balance design and social impact?

Balancing design with social impact starts with a clear problem definition. Conduct targeted research to understand user needs and stakeholder preferences. Evaluate existing systems that your solution will interact with, and assess its potential environmental impact. Ensure your design goals align with your broader vision for social impact, define measurable objectives, and identify potential risks or ethical pitfalls. This comprehensive approach ensures your design is not just aesthetically pleasing and functional, but also ethical, inclusive, and sustainable, fulfilling both design and social impact criteria.

To design effectively, it's imperative that we foster empathy for the system, ensuring that we consider the perspectives of all agents and elements involved. The most genuine way we know to gain insight is through collective and collaborative endeavors. Our drive to empathize allows us to truly see and understand. As innovators and visionaries, our goal is not just to generate ideas, but to add value and impact. Above all, we strive to deliver solutions that are both intuitively simple and create positive impact.

Co-creation is vital when your design aims to achieve social impact. Involve end-users and stakeholders throughout your design process—from ideation to implementation. This not only includes collecting their feedback but also actively engaging them in contributing ideas and resources. It ensures the final product is culturally sensitive, respects dignity, and truly meets the needs and leverages the strengths of those it aims to help. In doing so, your design becomes more than a product; it becomes a shared solution with community ownership, enhancing its social impact.

A successful example I've seen is working with a volunteer group of users to share their feedback on initial ideas. They'll give you more than you are initially looking for—which can be a game-changer. Open a channel in Discord (or any channel that works for you) for your communities to share what's working and how you can improve. Feedback leads to impact!

One thing I've found helpful when communicating the value to stakeholders is making them a character in my compelling story (pitch). Oftentimes, solutions benefit partners, stakeholders, users, and more. When people see themselves, they are able to make the connection. Starting an initiative that impacts your users and brings awareness to your brand is possible, and cross-functional teams can work together to gather data to meet OKRs, prep for future partnerships, etc. Think of ways you can work cross-functionally to ensure everyone can be supported. Ensure everyone has a clearly defined "role" and understands the objective through your story by anticipating the need. When there's clarity and connection, you can communicate the value.

Absolutely! Designing for social impact (as with many creative projects) is a journey of creative growth and discovery. I fully enjoy the process and challenges of creating because I embrace being a lifelong learner, even after many years of designing and creative work.

Design transcends mere aesthetics; it's a potent instrument to transform our world. We take this power seriously, striving always to wield it with integrity and bravery, aiming for a positive impact. As designers we are advocates for social innovation, champions for a circular economy, and supporters of companies that are catalysts for change. Yet, we transcend beyond mere tags or labels. Our ultimate goal is to bridge the gap between aspirations and tangibility, bringing visionary promises to life through tangible products and services.

We need to design all businesses for social impact. All business models need to mutate into impact business models and that is a human centered design task. An impact business model is one designed to create value for the business and society at the same time. To do it you have to simultaneously solve a world problem and your customer problem. The key is to find in all the world big problems the one that is more relevant to your stakeholders, pertinent for your industry and different from your competition.