On March 1st, 2024, 20 designers, researchers and educators gathered online for a Designer’s Listening Circle hosted by Social Design Sydney and School of Being. The Circle was hosted by Viv Sung (Australia), Jax Wechsler (Australia) and Alissa Fleet (USA). We are 3 designers who share a common interest in inner development and systems change, and the idea for co-hosting this gathering came from our observations and personal experiences as designers and design educators. We have noticed challenges for working designers such as tough politics, budget cuts, design redundancies for various reasons leading to a very competitive job market, burn out and disempowerment in roles. We decided to co-host a gathering with the intention to:
- create a space where designers can be seen and heard
- help designers reflect upon and make sense of the current state of design practice
- help designers find a place of strength and empowerment in their work.
During the gathering we looked at these themes: (1) what are the macro trends influencing our practice as designers; (2) what are we noticing in the design field today; (3) how do we personally feel about all of this; and (4) what may be needed to support ourselves both individually and collectively. Circle participants identified as strategic/service designers, design educators, design researchers, and UI/XI designers.
What did we hear about current challenges during the circle?
Below we reflect upon the points that were made in the dialogue. Viv has created some illustrations to communicate some of the points made.
(1) Spaces for listening are therapeutic to make sense of our work and roles
- Listening and sharing in a safely-held space was therapeutic and healing. Many are trying to make sense of our worlds, and designers felt it was useful to gather as a community across disciplines to share. Common experiences and patterns were noticed across the design field. Designers were heartened to hear others were experiencing the same as they were and shared that we need more spaces like this.
(2) Feelings in relation to changing markets and speed of work
- Changing markets are emergent and uncertainty is associated. We are seeing reputable design studios significantly reduce or disappear since COVID, with fewer design jobs. Designers need to continually stay relevant, we heard “I need to reinvent myself” and “I need to upskill to stay relevant”.
- There are feelings of uncertainty, anxiety, isolation, being undervalued, overwhelmed as well as some feelings of curiosity and optimism.
- Burnout is not uncommon with demands for work to be proving value quickly. We heard “Things move too fast, burnout is around the corner”.
- There are concerns about the implications of AI, and how to work together with it.
Some are feeling their creativity and the best ideas can’t flourish under these conditions and that space for “slowing down to speed up” would benefit workplaces.
(3) Lack of understanding of designers’ capability and roles
- There is a lack of understanding about the potential role designers can play in meeting systemic challenges.
- Financial capital and ROI in solely financial terms dominates, often at the expense of good practice. Designers feel constrained by business contexts to practise authentically and effectively. Designers need space built into projects to go deeper into the root of the problem. Allowing time for design research and co-design contributes to more effective outcomes.
- Designers want to contribute to the world and do work that aligns with their values. Capitalist and extractive models of work are causing confusion and a conflict of values. Some felt stagnated by reactive, box-ticking projects with clients and corporates or “showing value-add on projects,” rather than doing good work and the right thing. Others wonder, “where do I fit in?”
- We believe that the full potential of designers is not being utilised. Designers can play a useful role in systemic work but are often brought in to work on lower-level design problems, eg designing interface buttons. Are designers playing the role they want to and could play?
(4) Co-design is misunderstood by organisations
- Designers felt frustrated that there is a lot of practice that is being done that is called ‘co-design’ but is not true co-design. They felt that due to clients not understanding what co-design is and what conditions are required to do it properly, their ability to create better outcomes is hindered. Emma Blomkamp’s recent article was mentioned.
(5) Designers working with social crises require greater support structures
- Designers are working with significant social crises and issues, communities with lived experience of disability, mental health, and trauma, but don’t have the adequate scaffolds and personal support built into the workplace. It was noted that therapists and social workers have structured spaces at work to support them mentally & emotionally, for example, through supervision. Designers could well have better support in the workplace.
- Personal development work is not recognised or generally accepted in the workplace. We heard there was a desire for workplaces to support them to do this work, to allow time and space for designers to reflect.
A reflection and an invitation
Interestingly, after we met to reflect on the workshop we all attended a webinar by Meg Wheatley where she was promoting her new book ‘Restoring Sanity’ (You can watch the webinar). In this webinar, she discussed the urgent need for the creation of “islands of sanity” in times of transition we are in right now, i.e. “places of possibility and refuge where the human spirit can thrive” (M. Wheatley). Have a look at this short video/poem: It’s a wondrous thing by Meg if you are curious to learn more.
We felt that the Listening Circle was a helpful experience for designers and may have acted as an ‘island of sanity’, a safely held space “to be with what is” (M. Wheatley), share authentically and connect in community. These spaces create the conditions to be the best community together. So….we have decided to open another circle, this time with a broader cohort in early April.
We believe there is power in coming together in community to reflect, listen and witness each other. Join us and changemakers across sectors and locations for a Changemakers Listening Circle to see and sense what is needed for us to be more effective in co-creating flourishing together.
Jax Wechsler, Viv Sung and Alissa Fleet are designers who feel that inner development and systemic consciousness is a key piece to enabling and sustaining change. We are very interested in practices that cultivate awareness and diverse ways of sensing and seeing, such as phenomenological and embodied practices. Jax and Viv are strategic designers and educators who have recently launched a new initiative called the School of Being aimed at restoring wellbeing with ourselves, our relations and our living world. They host transformative learning experiences online and in nature to help people develop greater inner awareness so that they can more effectively navigate and co-create change in the world. Alissa is a Facilitator of Systemic Constellations offering mentoring and training in the Art of Possibility for designers and early stage founders.
If you are interested in listening circles for your organisation and sector, get in touch for facilitation of safely held spaces for reflection and synthesis.
Written by Jax Wechsler, Viv Sung and Alissa Fleet