Welcome to the
Village Library
We regularly post writing and resources to help you demystify and unlock the power of design, collaboration and innovation.
5 Things I’d love to redesign in 2025
As a designer, I’m constantly asking, Could this be a little better? Or What if it worked like this? It’s part of the job—and maybe the personality. Here are 5 things I’d love to get a crack at re-designing this year
Actionable strategy: Connecting your vision with your day-to-day work using OKRs
Strategy is often takes the form of a lofty aspiration, or a wishlist of outcomes and initiatives. But the best strategies go deeper. They bridge the gap between strategy and day-to-day work is about creating a hierarchy that connects and creates coherence at each level.
Summary of A Quick Guide to Design Thinking by Ida Engholm
In some circles Design Thinking is are dirty words. An over simplifications of design processes that have been superseded by more inclusive approaches like human-centered design and co-design. But this is just a fraction of the design thinking literature, there is also investigations of design thinking that are more about trying to uncover and articulate how designers think and what this means for knowledge creation. Lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Centering humans or decentering services
Is being human-centered the same as decentering designers and services?
Design is not a science, and that’s okay
If you’ve worked in design for long enough, you will have come up against resistance that aims to discredit methods as ‘unscientific’. But that’s a feature, not a bug.
Design Principles
Design principles can be a powerful tool for ensuring that the voice of the beneficiary remains at the heart of the design process.
Outcome drift — When the process becomes the end rather than the means
Beyond Box-Ticking: Reclaiming Purpose in Processes
Towards Participation Culture
The erosion of participatory culture isn't just a loss of community spirit; it signifies a deeper crisis of disempowerment and societal detachment. This detachment results in challenges appearing overwhelming and insurmountable due to the diminishing of collective agency and community ties.
Why working in pairs can be more productive
There is something powerful about working in pairs. I've always admired professional pairings, like the classic art director and copywriter duo in advertising. They seem to achieve more in less time.
A designerly approach to sense-making
A short guide to the designerly approach to making sense of research data.
Why designers love Post-it notes
There is more to the humble Post-it than its colourful aesthetics. They are a valuable tool in the designer's and facilitator's toolbox. So what is it about Post-its that designers love so much?
Design cycles; There is no 'right' number of iterations in the design process
How do you know when you’re done designing? How many rounds of itteration are enough?