Tools and Resources

This page is a collection of DesignShift resources meant to equip practitioners, organizations, and communities with the mindsets, practices, and narratives needed to design for justice, care, and flourishing.

DesignShifter Archetypes

The DesignShifter archetypes invites designers and change makers to embrace new roles responses in as we face climate change, inequality, and technological disruption. They move the role of designers from just making to a place of meaning—creating a world that is just, caring, and diverse.

Nature Dates: Simple practices for re-membering our relationship with nature

Nature Dates is a field guide for re-membering our relationship with nature. It features simple prompts, reflections, and activities that can be done alone or together, inviting people to slow down, pay attention, and cultivate a deeper relationship with the living world.

From How Might We to At What Cost

This tool emerged from a growing tension in design and technology: we are incredibly good at asking “How might we?”, but far less practiced at asking “At what cost?”Explore the tool

The Nature Relationship Spectrum

The Nature Relationship Spectrum invites us to re-member that we were never separate from nature, and explore how our relationship might shift from resource to reciprocity.

Explore the spectrum

From Frictionless to Meaningful

As designers, we've been trained to eliminate friction at every turn. Don't make users think. Make solutions invisible. Optimise for speed. But what if friction isn't always the enemy?

Explore the tools

from Force to Flow

This framework invites you to embrace water as a tool for accepting the phase we’re in. Instead of trying to calm the ocean or rush toward clarity, we practice recognizing the state we’re in and finding ways to respond to it with care.

Explore the tool

Maybe I'm just a plant

Maybe I’m just a plant… is a 12-part plant calendar that invites you to used plant as a replacement for the current productivity narratives. Use it as a guide for rethinking our relationship to productivity. Use it as a prompt to find center or a way to embrace fluidity.

Explore the calendar

Rituals For Slowing Down

In 2024, we hosted a DesignShift pratice session where we explored slowness. Before the session, participants submitted rituals for slow living that they using in their daily lives. This rituals are meant to inspire you to take a step back from the rat race and embrace slowness and calm.

Visit the site

I dream of a future that is...

As part of a practice session, “shifting Beyond” we co-create a future dream scape based on submissions from participants. These dreams became the guide for how we can shift from current tensions to a better tomorrow.

Explore the dreamscape

Let’s collaborate

What to use these tools in a workshop or co-create additional ones?