What's the big idea?

How I see tomorrow aims to capture kids’ perceptions and experiences of the COVID-19 world, and how they see a new and better tomorrow. 

“These are unprecedented times which will be looked back on as a time of substantial change to how we live. We wanted to encourage children across the world to share their thoughts on this current pandemic, the future and what we can learn from it. We wanted to see it through their eyes so that we can make positive changes to the way we live, work and play in the future.” – Jonathan Sands OBE, Elmwood

Pledges of support have already been made by one of Australia’s most significant museums along with others in Singapore, UK, USA, and Canada. 

“The really exciting bit is that we want to use the exhibition as a forum to invite business people, policy makers and opinion formers to view the ideas and consider how some might be brought to life”, says Sands. 

“You couldn’t get a clearer brief. Show us how you’re living today. Then, show us a picture of a better world. And who do you ask this of? The group in society that live in the moment and aren’t afraid to imagine a new future, because they know no bounds. The responses will challenge us grown-ups profoundly, of that I have absolutely no doubt. But grown-ups, don’t think this ends here. What will we say when they ask us what we did with their ideas? The DBA is proud to be supporting this initiative that will drive a new future.” – Deborah Dawton, CEO, Design Business Association.

Take a look around How I see tomorrow’s newly launched site, see how you and your children can get involved and spread the word. 

Artwork submissions will be populated on the online gallery from May 11th onwards. The closing date for submissions is 30th June 2020. 

So where are people right now? Their normal habits and routines went overnight. And we know from behavioural science that the more time we spend out of that drifting, habit-based daze; the more mental resources we use up. That means we’re physically tired. And we’re emotionally tired too, from time spent worrying about our immediate needs and our family and friends. Their health, their jobs, their happiness. 

What can we do as designers to help? We have a key role to play in the days ahead, helping to solve a multitude of challenges presented by this new-normal. But we also have a duty to avoid adding to the mental load people are facing right now and will face as the lockdown is gradually lifted. Because mental load pushes people to make decisions that might not be best for them, or for others. Like trying to be ‘normal’ and meet with friends or taking that trip that isn’t essential. 

I’d suggest design backed by behavioural science is the key to this. And behavioural science shows us what really matters right now is more empathy, more simplicity, and more speed.

Every brief should start with the question: What behaviour are we asking people to do? The more specific the better. We’ll be thinking about what we want people to do and what might stop them from doing it, before we do anything that looks like design. No colour palettes, no wireframes, just focused on approaching the design issue with empathy, walking a mile in peoples’ shoes and noting the problems faced. We’re less likely to spend time making alternative designs just so our clients have options and more likely to get to the most effective solution, whatever guise that might take. Like how the solution of putting climbing plants up a heavily graffitied wall in a park, as I once did, came from the understanding that posters on walls can be ignored, but people don’t tear down climbing plants, not even graffiti artists. 

Simplicity is the thing we strive for but never seem to grasp fully. But now is the time for stripping back. Thankfully understanding our associative brains helps. We can tap into simplicity by letting design create associations. Images relating to the thing we’re talking about. Words shaped by simile or metaphor. Even our colour choices could have meaning in the real world. Red stop, green go. It’s all there to make our designs easier to understand. And it should be all about how quickly people can just get it, no extra explanation needed.

And there’s a real need for speed right now. This requires us to get in the habit of thinking we’re going to test the impact of our design quickly. Bin anything that doesn’t work. And replace it with something else. The start-point for quicker tests and iterations? Not being scared by the very unlikely backfire effect of our designs. Then our whole process should get quicker. 

Take queuing in supermarkets, where we’ve seen these three principles applied recently to solve social-distancing problems. The marking out of where people should stand or queue using gaffer tape. A very quick design solution that instigates the desired behaviour and understands that people don’t have the headspace to read signs or engage with a campaign at the moment. It’s a solution that’s simple and takes as long to roll-out as it does to raid the hardware aisle. And if it had failed to work, the tape could have come up to try something else.

This approach might not facilitate some of the luxuries we’re used to in the design process. But it will help us deliver creative and effective solutions at pace, to meet people where they are in our rapidly unfolding new-normal.  

Innovate UK is looking for “innovative and ambitious ideas, which would realistically and significantly meet a societal need that has emerged or increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic or the need of an industry that has been severely impacted and/or permanently disrupted”.

UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £20 million to respond to these needs in UK and global communities.

Innovate UK is looking for ambitious ideas for projects which can be:

• scaled up quickly
• delivered during this lock-down period
• started by June 2020
• and last up to six months. 

Launched on 3 April, the deadline for applications is 17 April 2020 at 12pm. There is a streamlined application process for 100% up-front grants of up to £50k.

Ideas can come from any industry and be niche. Whilst solutions are likely to feature cross-cutting digital solutions, they could come from and impact on diverse sectors, for example healthcare, financial services, transport or creative services. 

If you have ideas for solutions across priority areas that you could foresee through to commercialisation, or if you have clients who you can support and shape their R&D processes to help get these products to market quickly you can apply for a grant of up to 100% of your project costs up to the maximum of £50k (paid in advance of the project start date) from Innovate UK.

Your proposal must focus on a clear need and the proposed innovation to address it. You must have the ability to deliver the project during the working restrictions of Covid-19 pandemic.

Key details: 

• competition closes 17 April at 12pm
• full funding up front
• project length 3-6months
• funding cannot be used for sustainability of a business
• sole traders will not be eligible.

Your application must demonstrate:

• a clearly innovative and ambitious idea, which would realistically and significantly meet a societal need that has emerged or increased due to the Covid-19 pandemic or the need of an industry that has been severely impacted and/or permanently disrupted
• that you have the capacity and capability to deliver the project successfully and on time during the working restrictions of Covid-19
• the ability to start your project no later than June 2020
• value for money

If you couldn’t make it or want to look back at key points, watch the webinar below and revisit notes from David’s full deck.

Here we list a few noteworthy materials mentioned by David in the webinar to help your reading around covid-19 and inform your decisions. As the situation progresses, keep up to date with the latest news and government advice by heading to gov.uk.

Trump is ignoring the lessons of 1918 flu pandemic that killed millions, historian says – The Washington Post, 29 February 2020

Coronavirus on the Latin Bridge – Exponential View, 1 March 2020

Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now – Medium, 10 March 2020

Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to reduce COVID19 mortality and healthcare demand – Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team, 16 March 2020

Mat Heinl, CEO, Moving Brands:

“I started my career at Moving Brands back in 2004 as a design intern. This was back in the day when Moving Brands was small; you would call and end up speaking directly with one of the founders! I had just graduated art college but had also dropped out of history degree, so really didn’t understand the creative industry at all. I remember being thrown into live projects on my very first day and I was taking part in client meetings within a week.

I moved up the ranks to Creative Director, then becoming Chief Creative Officer and then CEO in 2013. The way we do internships today has certainly evolved. The main difference is that we’re organised and have clear aims about why run we internships. In years gone by we’d find talented people, but it wasn’t always clear that we’d like to keep them or how we could nurture them; the approach was too loose. With that said, we have several teammates who have been here more than 10 years, who started as interns.

Now, we are very transparent about our expectations of graduates during their time with us. Yes, it can be hard work and involves steep learning curves immediately, but we pay our interns above minimum wage in each of our studios without fail (for example in London we commit to the London Living Wage) – it’s not exploitative. I also see it as a two-way thing. We’re learning from interns as much as the other way around.

Comparing that to when I was trying to find a job after university, not being paid for an internship seemed to be the norm. There was a culture of it being an unpaid ‘rite of passage’, which today, is inexcusable. After all, if your business is propped up by the unpaid work of the most junior members of the team, what business are you really in?

Today, students are more aware of the purpose of studios and creative companies. We encourage this because it empowers a curious and talented team. We want everyone to follow their own enthusiasms, rather than staying put in a box. As a leader, this means you have to be open to criticism and take time to review long held beliefs in the face of new ways of doing things.

What should you look for when seeking out an internship? In my opinion, the right place should feel exciting and open – somewhere that requires you to learn and develop yourself. Find somewhere values are shared, but people aren’t the same. It’s also ok to go somewhere that doesn’t feel a perfect fit, as finding out what you don’t want is valuable too.

The number one benefit of internships in our industry is that they should instil confidence. The creative industry has an issue with confidence – and it impedes all of us and our partners, because we don’t value what we do properly. I see it as our collective responsibility to strive for better.”

Nurturing and developing talent: How Moving Brands have been so successful

Internships as foundation careers

The Moving Brands internship has been running for almost all of the life of the company with an incredibly successful track record.

It lasts a minimum of three months and in every location interns are paid minimum wage and the London Living Wage in London.

From day one they are ‘buddied’ up with another member of the team and have the opportunity to be involved in live briefs as well as a number of other internal projects. 

To promote its internship programmes, Moving Brands has a broad approach which starts with close connections to universities and colleges. It’s not just about advertising a position on an e-newsletter or a university portal – it comes from engaging with students in their first few weeks at any higher education institution.

Through university talks, workshops and studio tours, Moving Brands are introduced to young people at the earliest possible stage, and students stay in touch with the company throughout their education.

Ongoing learning to keep ahead of the curve

At Moving Brands, specialisms are varied and distinct, so an individual training budget has been allocated to everyone, and it is available for them to spend in whatever way they deem most appropriate to their own personal development. 

This money can be spent on all sorts of things. It could be books, courses, memberships – it’s really flexible. People are encouraged to think carefully about where they need support and fund resources which will support those particular focuses. 

As well as individual investment, Moving Brands has introduced a number of schemes which are designed to cover both role-specific and broader business-related skills training.

Career progression: enabling the team to move up the ladder

Moving Brands’ philosophy is to bring people in at a junior level and provide an environment which supports them to progress through.

Progressing up the ladder at Moving Brands is self-directed by individuals, underpinned by support from a dedicated line manager, yearly goals and 360 feedback from the wider studio team.

This is designed to help people understand what actions they need to undertake to reach their next step – whether that’s a lateral move, a promotion or even a change in direction completely.

A year or so ago the business removed traditional appraisals believing that hardcore, strict processes can be counterproductive to those who want to learn and develop in anything less than a conventional way.

Instead of a traditional appraisal system, Moving Brands works to yearly goals with more informal quarterly check ins for individuals with a line manager. This allows the company and the individual to be on the same page with both their aspirations and the needs of the business, and it means personal and professional ambitions can be joined up too. 

Moving Brands is currently working on refining clear expectations for every single role, function and the whole team. After feedback from team members that they appreciated as much feedback and information as possible, the line manager structure is designed to allow clearer communication about what is needed for each person to progress.

The minimum expected from line managers is quarterly check-in, and the team are encouraged to use their line managers more often if they feel that is necessary. 

Looking to the future: what next?

With there always being room to stretch, improve and build on how a workforce is nurtured, Moving Brands’ Global People and Development Manager Maddie Fortescue shares how they are looking to the future:

“Over the next 12 months, one of our priorities is to roll out more group training. We deliver lots of one-on-one support but improving together as a team can be really effective.

We’re also exploring ways in which we can make our internship programme even more accessible to those who may not traditionally have access to opportunities like this. You can’t deny that for creative companies, especially in London, the cost of living can be a barrier.

Though we pay the London living wage at the very least to our interns, we’re looking at things like: can we pay individuals in advance, so they’re able to rent a room or buy a travel card to make their joining us easier? It has opened up lots of conversation in the team and we’re looking at how these ideas could be feasible.

Admittedly, these are small steps but as an industry, we have to collectively keep pushing forward with new and creative ways to support talented people.”

For more details about DBA Member Moving Brands, visit www.movingbrands.com.

Develop your employees with DBA training

Beyond EcoReDesign

The creeping incrementalism that so dominates sustainable business and design today, saving 3, 5, even 10% of materials or energy, may be better but simply won’t cut it for the long term. Sustainability is more than just an improvement agenda, it’s a new operating model that requires disruptive, radical innovation. The time for ‘design-as-usual’ with a sprinkling of green fairy dust is behind us.

As one impressive sustainable innovation programme, Project Breakthrough notes… “Sustainable Development Goals are a more radical agenda than most business leaders yet realize. They imply a shift from incremental to exponential mindsets and ambitions; from our current focus on the negative impacts of economic activity to the deliberate generation of positive impacts; and from the business case for action to a reconsideration of business models that ensures industries are fit for tomorrow’s very different market and geopolitical realities.”

Examining one widely reported and highly design-relevant sustainability area, sustainable packaging, underscores this. Media and consumer interest in packaging and waste is at an all-time high, yet the dominant response from the packaging industry is largely one of two things: recycle or substitute packaging materials. Put simply, this means you design the same pack which is more recyclable or made from eco-materials alternatives. Yet we know that we cannot possibly recycle our way out of trouble, and that switching to alternative ‘sustainable’ materials can bring other sometimes higher environmental impacts.

We need more creative and innovative approaches to sustainable packaging that reduce, avoid, eliminate or rethink these problems from the outset. Echoing this, some commentators call for sustainability moon-shots likening the innovations needed to defining achievements in human history (like the moon landing) or to ambitious, seemingly unachievable goals. A more appropriate description might be ‘Earth-shots’ as this innovation needs to rebalance a planet not conquer space.

The rise of the opportunity agenda

If much of this sounds insurmountable or like the traditional fear and doom-mongery from environmentalists, there’s a potential silver-lining to these dark-green clouds. In every problem or risk, there usually lies an opportunity – something that a growing number of sustainability innovators are quick to spot.

For example, the CEOs of recognised corporate sustainability AND design leaders like Nike, Philips and Unilever all now talk of sustainability fuelling innovation and growth.

You might see cynical corporate greenwash in this, but the words are turning into deeds too: Unilever’s most sustainable brands grew 46% faster than the rest of the business and delivered 70% of its turnover growth in 2018. Clearly sustainability can pay.

It’s not just big companies that see opportunity in sustainability either: smaller certified B-Corporation start-ups and SMEs – that have made legal commitments to deliver value to society – grew 28 times faster than their ‘normal’ equivalent in 2018. Clients are spotting sustainability opportunities and forging ahead; designers must at the very least keep up.

One estimate puts the size-of-the-sustainability prize at $12 trillion for businesses that help the world hit long-term (2030) Sustainable Development Goals. The sustainability business case has moved on from simply being about responsibility or cost savings, it’s about innovation, growth and opportunity.

What sustainability means for design

“The sustainability revolution has the magnitude of the agricultural and industrial revolutions but the speed of the digital revolution” says Former US Presidential candidate turned eco-investor Al Gore. I think we are not just integrating sustainability into our way of doing business and design, we are inventing a new economy. Past industrial and digital revolutions led to new forms of design and I’m certain the sustainability revolution will too.

We must change our models and mindsets as part of this: you wouldn’t consider unsafe products that threaten human life to be good design, so why is it any different for wasteful or carbon-intensive ones? New forms of ‘sustainable’ design will be as game-changing and pervasive as human-centred design has been over the last 30 years (watch this space for a subsequent blog on that).

Sustainability may present humanity’s biggest existential challenges, but these are also once-in-a lifetime-chances to innovate. That’s just the sort of world-changing brief that designers love. What an amazing set of commercial and creative opportunities to rethink and redesign a better world.

DBA Half-day training workshop | London

Established in 1989, the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards celebrate and champion the integral role design plays in transforming businesses, improving societies and enhancing people’s lives.

The achievements of the shortlisted winners are significant and wide-ranging, demonstrating through measurable evidence the competitive advantage they’ve delivered through design.

Says DBA CEO Deborah Dawton, “The value of design is changing. It’s no longer about a simple output against a brief; it’s about defining and solving a business challenge. What’s clear from this year’s DBA Design Effectiveness Awards shortlist is that design’s capabilities are increasingly being recognised and leveraged. Businesses are giving designers the opportunity to identify and solve problems, not simply handing them the brief.

This level of collaboration is enabling design to dig deeper into organisations where it can derive the biggest return. With a rising awareness that it’s no longer an option ‘to do what we’ve always done’, year on year the shortlisted winners in the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards show how design can solve the challenges businesses, governments and societies face today, delivering tangible, transformative returns.”

Winners have been shortlisted through two rigorous rounds of judging by a panel of leading figures across multiple industries.

Says Chairman of the judges, Clive Grinyer, “It has been a huge pleasure to judge this year’s DBA Design Effectiveness Awards and work with such a high calibre of judges. They bring expertise and wisdom in evaluating the role of design in achieving tangible and impressive success. This year we saw amazing and inspiring evidence of how design has exceeded expectations and delivered outstanding results for the businesses and organisations who invest in design and get it right.” 

The full list of judges can be found here.

Join us for the celebrations

On Wednesday 3 June from 12pm BST, our 2020 winners will find out if they’ve won Gold, Silver or Bronze at the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards 2020 announcement.

Our ceremony will look slightly different to previous years and will be broadcast live via Zoom.  We are excited by the opportunity to make this prestigious event more inclusive than ever, as it will be free to register, and people will be able to tune in to see everyone’s amazing achievements from the comfort of their own homes.

If you’ve ever wondered what makes a winning DBA Design Effectiveness Award, tune in to the live broadcast and celebrate the success of our 2020 winners. Register here.

DBA Design Effectiveness Awards Shortlist 2020

For full information about the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards, including winning case studies from 2019 please click here.