Overview
Designing for social change is complex work. It requires considering the many stakeholders and factors that could affect outcomes, having deep understanding of people while seeing the bigger picture, gaining clarity and conviction despite incomplete information, and discovering and choosing interventions that have impact, in the multitude of possibilities. Our belief and experience is that human-centered design is a powerful methodology and mindset to employ in this work.
The purpose of Designing for Social Systems is to empower leaders and practitioners in the nonprofit, philanthropy, government, and social impact fields to work in more effective, human, and strategic ways. In collaboration with these practitioners, we aim to redesign how this work is done, develop more effective interventions, and advance the sector as a whole.
Learn with us
Integrative Design
Join our Fall program: Putting Design Into Practice for Social Impact
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Resources and Knowledge
We continue to explore and advance how to effectively use a design approach to social systems challenges, and codify those approaches so a greater audience can benefit from the methodology. Find our resources here.
Read more on how both human-centered and systems-thinking methods fit within an effective design approach, and can work in conjunction to address social challenges in this Stanford Social Innovations Review article by Thomas Both.
d.school Action Lab 2022
Join us for this opportunity to learn and practice human-centered design, and advance your own project.
The d.school Action Lab will help you design more human-centered, equitable and effective initiatives, services and programs. The Lab is an intensive, hands-on opportunity to dive into and move forward your own team project. The Action Lab provides the structure and support for about 90 hours of work for learning and doing.
Team Members
Director, Designing for Social Systems
Program Manager, Designing for Social Systems & K12 Lab Network
Senior Designer, Designing for Social Systems