PROJECT
Systemic Design Toolkit
The growing field of Systemic Design acts on a strategic level, in order to tackle intricate issues on the social or organisational domains.
I first met systemic design in 2016, during my internship at Namahn. At the time, our partner Kristel was already experimenting with it, trying to translate the potential of systems thinking into design tools. I was immediately brought in the loop while working on a project for an NGO. Fascinated by the potential of such new field, I dug further into it in my Master thesis. Since then, I’ve been experimenting with collaborative tools for systemic design in several projects.
At Namahn, we kept doing research, creating tools, testing and improving. Such collaborative effort converged into the formalisation of a methodology for systemic design, as well as the creation of the systemic design toolkit, a set of co-design tools meant to be used in collaborative workshops.
My role
I contributed to the creation of the toolkit, and was involved in the co-creation of its branding and website, for which I have been writing the contents. I created the toolkit guide as well as promotional materials for conference workshops.
Beside that, I have been facilitating training sessions and workshops, such as the ones at RSD7 and RSD8, Interaction20 and UXLisbon, and gave a talk about systemic design at the Ethics By Design conference.
Teaching
As of 2022, I have been teaching the focus module “Design for Systems Change” at HSLU: the course is an introduction to systems-oriented design, supported by the Systemic Design Toolkit.
CE100 workshop in Barcelona – credits to Peter Vermaercke
Key learnings
The journey with systemic design has influenced my way of thinking and approaching projects. It’s very much about “taking a step back” to look at an issue holistically. By examining its bigger picture and root causes, those who participate in the collaborative process can build greater awareness of the impact design can generate at different scales, and converge towards more informed, sustainable design decisions.
By building the toolkit and delivering trainings and workshops, I also had the opportunity to work on many transversal skills such as facilitation, public speaking and coaching.
Special thanks to Kristel Van Ael, who initiated the systemic design journey and guided me throughout my time at Namahn.