As designers tackle increasingly complex challenges, they face overwhelming pressure, setbacks, and resistance to change the status quo, often leading to feelings of insecurity, vulnerability, and burnout. The Resilient Designers Project develops principles, hosts events and podcasts, and creates resources to help designers build resilience, navigate challenges, and maintain wellbeing while driving positive change in the world.
Design has evolved over the years from solving well-defined, structured problems to addressing complex, ill-defined and systemic issues. While design is increasingly seen as critical to addressing these complex challenges and driving positive change, we often overlook the strain this new claim for design places on designers themselves. As we try to pioneer change in complicated systems, we inevitably face setbacks and resistance.This can leave even the most experienced designers feeling insecure, stuck and vulnerable. We struggle with self-doubt and uncertainty about our impact. The gap between our idealistic goals and the practical objectives and limitations of real-world design projects continues to widen. While we were promised the tools and skills to make the world a better place, it sometimes feels like the world is taking a toll on us instead.
With: Rebecca Price, Mieke van der Bijl-Brouwer & Ema Uršič
Funded by: NRO
Recognition: Dutch Design Week, Nieuwe Instituut, World Design Organisation
The Resilient Designers Project aims to address the evolving challenges faced by designers in today’s complex world. At its core are ten principles designed to build resilience in the design discipline, enabling designers to drive more positive change while maintaining their personal and professional wellbeing. The project includes a book, a website and a podcast, all dedicated to building a more resilient design community. Over the past two years, the resilient designer team has engaged with a diverse group of over 300 masters students, 50 researchers and 50 design practitioners through workshops, collaborations and publications. My role in this multi-faceted initiative has been extensive: contributing to the research, contributing to the book, designing the book, hosting the podcast and designing, building and maintaining the website.
