Starting your own conversations about Post Normal design

Alastair Somerville
2 min readJul 24, 2020

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The best person is you

I love talking about Post Normal design and the issues underlying it. However, I also know that the best person to be speaking is not always me. The ‘Workshop on a Postcard’ is a simple tool for enabling you to start conversations in your place. You know the context, you know the tools and you know what is being developed. You are the best person to start a conversation.

The card is a public provocation. Lots of people know there are things that are not right but they never have the opportunity to talk about them. You have two powers:

  • The power to hold a space to be listened to
  • The power to permission talk of radical ideas

Use the postcard to make a place to hear new ideas.

If you want some more ideas for what is wrong and what could be done differently, then download this talk What Lies Beneath. It is a talk I gave at Service Design In Government in March 2020. It talks about the bias in our research and product tools and the need for ethical framings that work into our futures.

This is about starting conversations and enabling change. A postcard, a conversation, a start.

You have power and you are the best person to start change happening.

Want one? Just ask

We all need to talk more about how we can created products and services that work better for everyone. I will happily send you one ‘Workshop on a Postcard’ for free if you contact me.

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Alastair Somerville

Sensory Design Consultant, usability researcher and workshop facilitator. www.linkedin.com/in/alastair-somerville-b48b368 Twitter @acuity_design & @visceralUX