What Are the Hidden “Downstream Effects” of Every Product You Use?

Can Design Actually Heal Our Disconnected World?

How does design shape our future? Watch our summary of the “Deep Dive Into Design” roundtable featuring Stanford d.school experts. Discover how empathy, equity, and “futures wheels” can prevent unintended consequences and heal our relationship with technology.

Are you designing the future or just decorating it? It’s time to rethink the impact of your creations. Watch the full Deep Dive Into Design roundtable and learn how to build a world that prioritizes connection over convenience.

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In this roundtable from the Mechanics’ Institute, four leading designers chat with Deep Dive Into Design discussion host Nico Chen about the ways design affects people’s lives and may yield unexpected consequences — both good and bad. Carissa Carter, academic director at Stanford’s d.school; Scott Doorley, the school’s creative director; Luam Melake, an interdisciplinary artist and researcher; and Quinlin Messenger, founder and director of the design agency JUST, draw on ideas from Carter and Doorley’s book Assembling Tomorrow to explore how design can nurture empathy and shape a more equitable and sustainable future.

Take-Aways

• Design can foster empathy, human connection, and healing.
• Designers should consider the downstream effects of their choices, including social and environmental impacts.
• Design has the potential to reshape the relationship between humans, technology, and nature.

Summary

Design can foster empathy, human connection, and healing.

It’s been said that design serves to overcome the human body’s limitations; but some of the constraints of being human, including human nature itself, don’t allow for transcendence. Design should allow for and even embrace these qualities. For example, Luam Melake creates furniture that pushes back against the tide of digitality in modern life by underscoring the body’s physicality. Her sculptures and woven tapestries, created from industrial materials, also demonstrate how the built environment can trigger subconscious associations and personal memories.

“Our personal experiences shape how we view design. You can’t separate yourself from your work, and you should bring your whole self to it.” (Quinlin Messenger quoting Carissa Carter and Scott Doorley)

Design can remind people that they’re human — acknowledging and reflecting their human capacities, emotions, and shared responses — and assist in healing. Design can recognize and respond to the human desire to belong and connect. When designers embrace their personal histories and narratives, their work can foster inclusivity. Ultimately, empathy-driven design can counteract the growing sense of disconnect in today’s technology-saturated world.

Designers should consider the downstream effects of their choices, including social and environmental impacts.

Design can have unintended consequences. For example, creating a beverage container that’s easy to hold in one hand could make it convenient for a person to drink from the vessel while driving. The designer should ask whether facilitating that behavior is a good idea. Design choices also have social and environmental consequences. Designers should ask where the materials for their work will come from, who will produce those materials, and how making them will affect those people.

“Justice and equity can be designed for.” (Quinlin Messenger)

“Futures wheels” can help designers anticipate the potential downstream effects of design decisions. By mapping out these ripple effects, designers can preemptively address adverse outcomes and create more inclusive, thoughtful solutions. This approach reflects a deeper commitment to understanding how design choices affect people and the environment, aligning with the call to integrate empathy into design.

Design has the potential to reshape the relationship between humans, technology, and nature.

Designers must go beyond simply innovating for efficiency or novelty; instead, they should focus on creating solutions that heal the modern world’s social, environmental, and emotional wounds. People can actively choose to design for equity and environmental stewardship.

“It worries me that some of our best minds in the country are working on novelty production.” (Luam Melake)

Healing, stewardship, technology, nature, and human well-being are all interconnected. Designers should view themselves as caretakers. They must consider the entire ecosystem in which they’re designing to ensure their work benefits all stakeholders, including people and the planet. By considering design’s environmental, social, and emotional dimensions, designers can create a future where their work serves as a bridge between humans, the world around them, and one another. This holistic approach positions design not just as a tool for innovation but as a catalyst for a more just, empathetic, and sustainable world.

About the Speakers

Designer and geoscientist Carissa Carter is the academic director of Stanford’s d.school. Scott Doorley is a writer, designer, and the school’s creative director. Luam Melake is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher, and Quinlin Messenger is the founder and director of the design agency JUST. Host Nico Chen is the program manager of writing and literature at Mechanics’ Institute.