4 things a week: looking back at 2024

Last year was big year for change, both personal and professional. But I’ve picked out four things that happened that changed me and my approach to life and work that I will build on in 2025.

1. For the first time in the almost 10 years since running Morrama, I had to let people go.

As someone who absolutely believes that design is about people and Morrama is about the team, this was a really big deal for me and a painful experience. It’s also one that a great many fellow agency leaders have also had to face this year. And I don’t think I handled it that well. I was too emotional. But if current me went back in time and told former me to be less emotional about it, I would have told current me to ‘f*** off’ so, there we go. The emotion came from a place of worry, exhaustion and a sense of failure. Failure not just in that I had to make people redundant, but that I’d left it so late. I’d like to think I wouldn’t make that mistake again, but as well as wearing my heart on my sleeve, I’m an optimist. Luckily I’ve learned that this isn’t necessarily a good combination for making the difficult decisions when they need to be made and have put processes in place to guide future me if I find myself in this situation again. Let’s hope I don’t have to rely on them.

2. I became a mother.?

Yes, this should probably be at number one. But who says they are in order. My son turned 9 months old at the end of the year and if anything changes you, parenthood certainly does. The one thing I absolutely cannot understand is why employers don’t hire more women. Sure they then go and take a year out to have a baby, but for the cost of a few months maternity, they go on a year long crash-course on patience, resilience, perspective and empathy. I saw the difference it made to my colleague when her first child was born two years ago, but couldn’t have imagined the impact it would make on my approach to work.?

Above all, it’s given me confidence. If you can make a child happy and feel safe even when they are sick and tired and teething - then running an agency, and dealing with troublesome clients, is no problem at all.

3. We grew Design Declares

Aside from Morrama, I spend part of my time working on Design Declares . We formally set up Design Declares as a not-for-profit in 2023 and have put effort into growing the community both at home and over seas. Alongside Brasil and Ireland, we now have a chapter up and running in Australia and over 1000 signatories (design teams, institutions and design led companies) worldwide. Last year also put together the first two D! Events in London, bringing together 150 designers to collaborate, learn and connect over the shared passion to use our industry as a force for good against climate change.

Finding time to work pro-bono on any project is tough. It can easily drop down the priority list, but it’s been a real lesson in what teamwork without hierarchy is and what can be achieved when you have absolute trust, respect and accountability; especially as those involved only actually ever meet F2F once or twice a year. It’s been a joy to learn from and be inspired by both those running D! and the incredible network of people I’ve met through the events.

4. I started writing (and speaking) more.

It’s a funny thing writing every week when you aren’t actually sure if anyone reads the output. But writing 4 things a week keeps my head out the sand. I have to read, research and form an opinion on several different topics every 7 days and then put those thoughts out into the world. It’s a seemingly small thing that some weeks takes a distractingly long time, but it’s really useful way of focusing my thoughts.?

When someone in the team has a strong opinion or interest about something, I’ll encourage them to write about it. It’s amazing how often their point of view changes when they sit down and really dig into it. When you know you are putting your voice down for others to read (and perhaps disagree with) it’s tempting to water down your views, come to the conclusion that perhaps you aren’t so confident about your ideas and give up. But I’ve learnt two things:

A). Even a small amount of research and an hour thinking on a topic is significantly more than most will have thought about it.

B). Everyone is entitled to an opinion.?

I've learned loads which has given me confidence not just in writing, but in speaking too so you definitely can expect more from me in 2025. And if you get the opportunity to 'pick up a pen', I urge you to do it too.

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P.s. Just incase you got to the end of this and aren't sure who I am, I'm:

• an industrial designer (I design and engineer physical objects)
• founder of Morrama | Certified B Corp
• former tutor of Design Futures at the Royal College of Art
• co-instigator of Design Declares