Designers as facilitators, protectors, and collaboratorsEvery time I visit my mom, she asks me the same question: WHAT exactly are you designing? I tried to explain it to a friend, but they didnt quite understand.Many people (not just my mom) still see design as something tangiblesomething they can hold and touch. While that might have been true 20 years ago, the world of design has shifted. Today, much of design is digital, and it focuses on strategic thinking rather than just creating physical products.This shiftfrom design as the creation of objects to design as a tool for enabling changehas reshaped the profession. Now, we must ask: What is the next necessary evolution of design? How do we adapt our work to address todays interconnected crises of climate change, housing, justice, and meaning? What is the future role of designers that helps heal and regenerate ourplanet?DesignShift: From designing things to designing realchangeAs I ponder these questions, I keep returning to this idea of lessnot in the sense of sleek, Scandinavian inspired solutions (I actually think that can be quite harmful), but in terms of our role as designers. If we want to design for real change, the role of a designers must become less about designing new things, and more about facilitating, protecting, and enhancing what alreadyexists.Lets explore these threeareas.1. Designers as a facilitator:For decades, designers have pushed for a seat at the table in boardrooms where crucial decisions are made. Yet, as a 2020 Fast Company article explains, many CEOs still dont understand the role of design leadership (its not just my mom). The survey revealed that Only one-third of CEOs could detail what their CDO (Chief Design Officer) oversaw at the company. In other words, 66% of CEOs couldnt say what their CDO actually did, or how that success should be measured.When you listen to these kinds of seat-at-the-table discussions, the obvious conclusion might be that designers just need to do more to prove that they deserve to be there. But what if were approaching this in the wrongway?As important as our role in boardrooms and decision-making conversations may be, users or customers themselves are rarely at these tables. They are out and about, living their lives. Rather than speaking for users, how can we facilitate the conversation and create spaces where others can share their insights and solutions? The key shift is moving from designing for others to designing with them and one way we can do this is through co-design.Co-Design: A key method for designers as facilitatorsWhen I think about the role of designers evolving from creating things to facilitating change, my mind naturally turns to co-design. Kelly Ann McKercher, alongside many other practitioners, pioneered co-design. The method aims to shift the role of the designer away from the designing at or for to designing with and by. On their website, McKercher describes how Co-design brings together lived experience, lived expertise and professional experience to learn from each other and make things betterby design. Today, a lot of designers are designing at or for others. Our work centers clients wants over community needs. Co-design centers the lived experiences of the people, families, and communities themselves. The designer isnt in charge of solving problems or making things, but rather responsible for enabling others to find their own solutions.Levels of participation in design in four columns: design at, design for, design with and design by. Image from: https://www.beyondstickynotes.com/what-is-codesignWhen we look at co-design we can see that the future (and in many places current) role of designers is not to impose our expert knowledge onto communities but rather about facilitating spaces where people can share their ideas and problems in an open and safeway.4 core principles of co-design:share powerprioritise relationshipsuse participatory meansbuild capabilityWhen I think about this mindset and method shift, designers moving from expert to facilitators I often come back to the work of community organizers. In this interview, Ezra Klein speaks with labor organizer Jane McAlevey about what it takes to mobilize people within a labor movement. McAlevey, who has organized hundreds of thousands of workers on the front lines of Americas labor movement, explains: When Im looking for organizers, Im looking for people who genuinely believe that ordinary people have high intelligence and who really deeply respect ordinary people. I start out every day genuinely believing that people can make radical changes in how they think about and see theworld.Designers have much to learn from this mindset. If we truly believe that people have the answers to the problems were trying to solve, then our role shifts. Our work becomes less about designing things or imposing expert knowledge onto people, about facilitating conversations and creating environments where the people closest to the problem are also closest to thepower.2. Designers as protectorsDesigners shape the products we use and the content we consume. Design is a powerful tool, and if we want to make sure were designing for a better tomorrow, designers need to balance opportunities with responsibilities.Over the years, the question How might we? has become a cornerstone of design thinking, encouraging optimism and creativity. I love this question. It opens up possibilities.However, Ive also realized that as designers, our responsibility isnt just to spot problemsits to ensure we dont create newones.This means not just asking How might we? but also At whatcost?Dont move fast and break things when it comes to mykidsThese were the words from the mom of a 14 year old boy who ended his life after a chatbot conversation. The story is heartbreaking on so many levels. As designers and developers of whats new and whats next, how do we really make sure our solutions do not have unintended consequences? How do we move from good intentions to taking responsibility for the potential harms before we go to market? How do we stop moving fast? How do we stop breaking things, people, and theplanet?The cost of poorly designed solutions is far-reaching. Products end up in landfills, software isolates us, and messaging manipulates us into excess consumption. Good intentions are not enough. Designers must be responsible for the impact of their work. We must ask ourselves: Are we considering all stakeholders? Are we accounting for invisible users? Could our solutions cause environmental harm? We need to take these questions seriously, not just during the design process, but throughout the entire lifecycle of a product or service. We must test for unintended consequences and build in safeguards to mitigate risks. We must become protectors of people andplanet.3. Designers as collaborators:The 10th Design Justice Principle states: Before seeking new design solutions, we look for what is already working at the community level. We honor and uplift traditional, indigenous, and local knowledge and practices.Design can sometimes feel like a club that few are invited to. We use fancy words and frameworks, and our offices, while beautiful and inspiring, can often feel exclusive and elitist. However, when we look at what design really is, the combination of sense making and form giving we can see that design happens in all professional fields AND in our day-to-day lives. A physical therapist designs when they diagnose a patient and create a treatment plan. A teacher designs when they adjust a curriculum based on past experiences. A policymaker designs when they shape laws based on societal needs. And in everyday life, people design when they plan vacations, build routines, or adjust theirhabits.Designers dont have a monopoly on creativity. People are designing solutions every day without formal titles. Our role should be to amplify and collaborate, rather than to reinvent thewheel.Designers need to recognize this and look for ways to collaborate and uplift the people who are already doing the work rather than coming up with our own new inventions. This might mean that we are not actually designing a new thing but rather supporting the work ofothers.Design by collaboration means recognizing that our world doesnt always need another app, product, or service. Sometimes, it needs us to step back and ask: Whats already working? What systems need strengthening rather than replacing? What voices need amplification rather than interpretation?Why now? Whyus?We are in a time of interconnected crisesclimate change, energy depletion, food scarcity, and social inequality. Design as usual isnt just inadequateits harmful. If we want to contribute to a better future, we must use our design skills in different ways.As Julia Watsonstates:With environmental and societal collapse imminent in the coming decades, design at the intersection of anthropology, ecology, and innovation is the most pressing discussion of ourtime.The designers role moving forward is crucial but the future is less about viewing success through the lens of creation and production, and more about measuring our impact through restoration, connection, and amplification. It means approaching our work with humility, curiosity, and care. By acting as facilitators, protectors, and collaborators, we can create a future where design doesnt harmand where it empowers others to thrive. The true magic of design lies not in what we create but in the change we help othersachieve.So the next time my mom asks, What do you actually design?maybe the best answer wont be about the things I make. Maybe its about what I help protect, who I collaborate with, and how I empower others to shape their own futures.. Maybe good design isnt about what we create, but about what we choose to leave untouched, to nurture, or to amplify. And maybe thats something worth explaining.Resources:Design JusticeNetworkWhen the Person Abusing Your Child is a Chatbot: The Tragic Story of SewellSetzerWhat is co-design?Beyond StickyNotesLabor organizer Jane McAlevey on The Ezra Klein Show |VoxKelly Ann McKercherCoDesign and PowerSocial Design Sydney Aug2020The Politics ofDesignFrom designing things to designing change was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.