Design Council UK + Systemic Design + Design in Government with Cat Drew — DT101 E78

Cat Drew is the chief design officer at the Design Council. We talk about the role and work of Design Council, systemic design, and the shifting role of design and government and communities.

Listen to Learn About:

Portrait of Cat Drew

  • Design Council’s work
  • The frameworks Design Council has developed
  • The Design Economy
  • How designers can learn from non-designers who are practicing design out in their local communities
  • Asset-based design
  • Speculative design
  • Amble Harbour, a small fishing village in the UK

Our Guest

Cat Drew is the Chief Design Officer at the Design Council where she brings together architecture and the built environment, public sector design and business innovation to support people in living healthier, happier and safer lives. Previously, Cat has held leadership positions at FutureGov and Uscreates, was a co-founder of the UK government’s Policy Lab, and combines 10 years of experience in government with an MA in Graphic Design. She speaks widely about the value of design and co-presents BBC Radio 4 The Fix. She is a member of The Point People.

Show Highlights

[01:04] Cat’s path from civil servant to designer.
[01:38] Her frustration while working for the government.
[02:39] Helping to co-found the Policy Lab and discovering design.
[05:15] Her work at Design Council.
[06:25] The biggest internal development happening at Design Council right now.
[08:29] One example of the collaborative aspect of the Design Council’s work.
[10:28] The Design Council’s double diamond framework.
[11:37] The Framework for Innovation builds on the double diamond and adds in culture change.
[12:21] The complex challenges design is being asked to solve.
[13:00] The new Systemic Design framework the Design Council developed to help with these challenges.
[16:02] Cat talks about Design Council’s role with regard to people using this new framework.
[17:40] Design “translation” as a core role of the Design Council.
[18:09] The ways in which language changes meanings in different communities.
[19:46] Different groups and individuals see and experience a system very differently.
[20:55] The social dreaming concept.
[21:57] Cat talks about some of Design Council’s research and projects.
[22:31] The Design Economy.
[24:31] Design Difference, a project born out of COVID-19 and the pandemic.
[27:10] Learning from non-designers who are out there doing design work in their communities.
[29:35] Asset-based design starts from what’s strong instead of what’s wrong.
[31:22] Cat talks about where design is heading.
[31:50] Designers working to deliberately change and redesign systems.
[33:50] Three themes Design Council is seeing in design now.
[35:52] Encouraging more people to experiment and play with design in the real world.
[38:11] Ways to use and support the work Design Council is doing.
[39:08] The importance of speculative design in supporting creativity.
[39:58] Policy Lab’s The Future of Aging project.
[41:54] Resources Cat recommends for those interested in design.
[43:40] Cat answers the question, “what’s your best story about design?” with a story about Amble Harbour, a fishing village in the UK.

Links

Cat on Twitter
Cat on LinkedIn
Cat on Medium
Design Council UK
BBC Radio 4: The Fix
Interview with Cat at UX Connections
Interview with Cat at Design Week
Speculative Design
Design: Into the Ether
TEDxWhitehall: Making government better, through data and design

Book Recommendation: Why Materials Matter: Responsible Design for a Better World, by Seetal Solanki and Liz Corbin
Rooted By Design
Natasha Trotman

Design Thinking 101 Episodes You Might Like

Design Thinking for the Public Sector + Building and Training Design Thinking Teams with Stephanie Wade — DT101 E14

Teaching Yourself Design Thinking + Innovating in Government with Amy J. Wilson — DT101 E19

Democracy as a Design Problem with Whitney Quesenbery — DT101 E68

Tell me how the show helps you.

Photo of Dawan Stanford

Your ideas support and develop the show. Tell the world how the Design Thinking 101 Podcast has helped you think and solve like a designer. Then, tell me how I might make it even more helpful.

Cheers ~ Dawan

Fluid Hive's Designing Faciltiation Course

Are you ready to design outstanding events that will engage participants and get the outcomes you need? Fluid Hive's Designing Facilitation Course is a step-by-step design thinking-fueled system for creating and leading events, workshops and meetings that solve problems, save money, and protect your reputation.

Designing Facilitation gives you 32 lessons that walk you through answering our Event Design questions, and 28 Event Design Practice Tools that help you immediately apply your learning. Dawan also offers examples and insight from his decades of experience leading events for thousands of people everywhere from the White House to packed ballrooms, cozy workshop rooms, and online spaces with remote participants.

Design Thinking 101 Courses — Framing

In this self-paced, online course, Framing: Creating Better Solutions by Finding More Valuable Problems to Solve, you will learn to create more effective solutions by understanding the problem you are trying to solve. This is the first course in Fluid Hive's Design Thinking 101 Courses Series.

Creating effective solutions begins with understanding the problem we are trying to solve. Is this problem worth solving? Where should we look to understand our problem? What’s happening inside this problem? How do we define the problem? How do we adjust problem framing as we go? During the course, you will learn to answer these questions and apply them to your work.

Resources — Thinking and Solving Like a Designer

Articles

Ask Like a Designer — Monthly articles with design ideas, methods, frameworks, templates, and a question-fueled approach to design-driven innovation. Discover new ways to think and solve like a designer.

Sample pages from inside Fluid Hive's Innovation Shield

Guide

Download Fluid Hive's Innovation Shield: a guide to avoiding innovation traps by asking 9 of Fluid Hive's Design Thinking Questions.

Your Ask Like a Designer Studio

Your Ask Like a Designer Studio connects you with people interesed in thinking and solving like a designer.

Enjoy invitations to free, live Studio events. Receive articles, Design Thinking 101 podcast updates, tips, tools, templates, workshop information, and more to help you create and perform!

Innovation Smart Start Webinar

Your next project could be easier, faster and more effective if you play smart at the start. In this webinar Dr. Dawan Stanford will teach you ways to ask like a designer so your projects succeed more often and your revenue grows.