2021, the year of reflection

This has been a profoundly transformational year for me so I will indulge in some look-back. If you bear with me, you will find many gifts hidden in the words of this article.

At the beginning of the year I found myself in a hard moment of pain but extreme clarity. I had to move away from a team I loved and, at the same time, I knew what I really wanted to do.

I had this vision that Responsible Design was the only direction forward both for me and for the Design practice in general. I found in foryouandyourcustomers a place to heal, learn and grow that vision to an extent I could not anticipate.

With a team of 5 enthusiast people, willing to learn and question, we dug deep and wide into ourselves and into a lot of different topics: accessibility, safety, the role of privilege in tech, intersectional design, sustainable web design, the shift from sustainability to regeneration, emergent strategy, Design Justice, the re-definition of human-centered, Ethical and Responsible Tech, Co-design and many more.

We came back with ideas, points of view, special and meaningful conversations and methodologies to bring the values of respect, equity and sustainability to our customers and everyday design work.

In the process, we met a lot of truly wonderful inspirational people that I am honoured to call community, too many to link and tag.

I am so proud of the road we walked. The content you see online is just the higher branches and leaves of a magnificent tree that is growing with us and beyond us.

The signs of change are out there. The growing awareness of the environmental and societal challenges of our times has fuelled a sense of responsibility among consumers, designers, politicians, citizens.

If you have clicked the pages of this post, you have found a wealth of links and resources. It is just a selection of all the words and ideas that helped us grow this year. I am deeply grateful and in debt with all the authors, designers, activists, professionals that walked this path before us and showed us the way.

I am grateful for the time and space we were given to learn. I am grateful for the work and dedication of my team, especially Annegret and Virginia. I am grateful for the people we met, the work we did and the work we will do.

I am looking forward to 2022 and the difference we will make all together.

Thanks to Zuzana Miraka for the great picture.