Illustration by Kris Russell. Learn more about our illustrators. Question & Answer with Ezra Kong of the Design Futures Forum In May, the Design Futures Forum will be in person in St. Louis for the first time! We sat down with Design Futures Forum executive director Ezra Kong to learn more about the Forum andContinue reading “Question & Answer with Ezra Kong of the Design Futures Forum”
Category Archives: blog
Asking an Empathetic Question
Illustration by Kris Russell. Learn more about our illustrators. Asking an Empathetic Question Embracing empathy when interacting directly with other people often involves being able to ask questions that open up the conversation, building a bridge rather than creating a barrier. We have some principles for asking these questions that we practice when we’re interactingContinue reading “Asking an Empathetic Question”
Mindsets of Public Design Bureau: Accepting Ambiguity
Illustration by Jasper Kipp. Learn more about our illustrators. Mindsets of Public Design Bureau: Accepting Ambiguity What’s the mindsetAmbiguity arises when contexts, meanings, or futures are unclear (basically all the time!). Accepting ambiguity is recognizing this uncertainty and being okay with the not knowing, at least temporarily. When we imagine potential futures, whether in our livesContinue reading “Mindsets of Public Design Bureau: Accepting Ambiguity”
How to be a Good Beginner
Illustration by Jasper Kipp. Learn more about our illustrators. How to be a Good Beginner Frequently, our work has us digging into topics that we know little about. We think of our expertise as being in process design, which means we work with clients across a wide variety of topic areas and have the greatContinue reading “How to be a Good Beginner”
Designing a Process for Change
Illustration by Jasper Kipp. Learn more about our illustrators. Designing a Process for Change While we like to say that we create products, services, environments, and other tangible things, much of what we actually design is the process of creating these things – the process of creating change. We work closely with our partners toContinue reading “Designing a Process for Change”
Mindsets of Public Design Bureau: Iteration
Illustration by Alice Lee. Learn more about our illustrators. Mindsets of Public Design Bureau: Iteration What’s the mindsetIteration is the approach of learning through making, and ongoing improvement along the way. It is the mindset that allows us to accept that it’s not realistic to figure everything out perfectly the first time, and that feedback andContinue reading “Mindsets of Public Design Bureau: Iteration”
Interview with a Partner: Haliday Douglas
Illustration by Alice Lee. Learn more about our illustrators. Interview with a Partner: Haliday Douglas Haliday Douglas is a proud son of St. Louis. He commits his professional life to working across St. Louis — currently as the interim President & CEO of the St. Louis Public Schools Foundation and as the Founder & CEO ofContinue reading “Interview with a Partner: Haliday Douglas”
Lessons from Teaching
Illustration by Alice Lee. Learn more about our illustrators. Lessons from Teaching As school bells ring and kids and college students around the country get ready to head back to the classroom, we’ve spent some time reflecting on what we’ve learned from being teachers. Both Annemarie and Liz are lecturers at the Sam Fox School ofContinue reading “Lessons from Teaching”
Mindsets of Public Design Bureau: Visual Thinking
Illustration by Lorry Jamison. Learn more about our illustrators. Mindsets of Public Design Bureau: Visual Thinking What’s the mindsetVisual thinking is about creating images or other mock-ups that represent the current or imagined world and help us make sense of it and communicate it. Visual thinking can be as simple as a stick-figure sketch on aContinue reading “Mindsets of Public Design Bureau: Visual Thinking”
Reevaluating Criteria for Decision Making
Illustration by Lorry Jamison. Learn more about our illustrators. Reevaluating Criteria for Decision Making Any design process involves making a series of intentional choices: which opportunity to address, which idea to prototype, which prototype to iterate, which features to prioritize, and which prototype to develop into a pilot are just a few of the choices alongContinue reading “Reevaluating Criteria for Decision Making”
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