What does it mean to be a creative problem solver? How do designers help solve issues like climate change, racial equity, and education? These were the two main questions of the 16th episode of the Design is Everywhere podcast: Listen for Understanding. Creative Problem Solving Requires Designers to Listen, Learn, and Get Out of the Way. SOUR Partner Pinar Guvenc co-hosted the conversation on the role of designers in raising awareness and potential to solve problems through research and collaboration.
The Design is Everywhere podcast is an initiative of the Design Museum Everywhere. an online, nomadic museum with the mission to bring the transformative power of design everywhere. Design is everywhere, so the museum has no permanent address — instead the museum is turned inside out, making it accessible to all across many platforms and locations. At the Design Museum, they see design as a creative problem-solving process that can be applied not only to design buildings, products, websites, clothing, etc. but also used to solve the biggest social and environmental problems we have on our planet today - a mission very much aligned with that of SOUR. The podcast series is hosted by Sam Aquillano (Founder and Executive Director of Design Museum Everywhere) and Liz Pawlak (Vice President of Design Museum Foundation)
In the podcast, Pinar talks about how the architecture and design world needs to step it up and understand the potential the sector has in terms of raising awareness on social and urban issues. In her words: designers must educate clients in order to create the best designs. Through extensive research, cross-sector collaborations and conversations, design can be part of the solution.
Joining the podcast as a guest Marquise Stillwell, Founder and Principal of Openbox, a NYC based design studio focused on using human-centered design to enhance the way cities, institutions, and communities deliver services and make impact. As individuals, they are specialists in ethnography, film, graphic design, urban design, strategy, and business. As a collective, they are passionate about people: what they want, what they need, and what they care about.
Currently, SOUR and Openbox are collaborating on Rethinking Work from Home experience for parents, particularly moms, in collaboration with the community HeyMama. The aim is to identify accessible and flexible solutions that support families in this new era of blended domestic, professional, and educational spaces.
