I seek purpose and future relevance for our society in my work as a Designer*

Anna-Magdalena Schatz

*Communication Designer (Dipl.) // UX / UI Designer – Germany

I LOVE VALUE CENTERED DESIGN

MAKING SENSE OF BIG DATA

Everyone wants it – data which we are leaving behind as digital foot prints. Technology is getting better at processing this massive data and some companies have been learning how to (potentially) use it for their purposes. Due to the big wave of 'quantified self', very individual data is generated that could tell so much about the individual's health. At this time there are a million reasons for discomfort on our end – one is because the data is not provided to us in a way we understand. Selected data is not put into context, which is why there are no insights for us.

WORKING WITH DOMINICAN YOUTH FOR A BETTER FUTURE

Think back, when you were like 11, 14, 17? Do you think you knew enough about sex, your rights as a human being and sexual transmitted diseases to keep yourself safe through to adulthood? Or did you at least feel the support from your environment? Well, most who live in developed countries would say yes.
Unfortunately most Dominican teenagers would disagree. Poverty, limited education and pressure from their peers and families are their reality, which makes it exceptionally tough to grow into a self confident wo/man.

REIMAGINING THE ALARM CLOCK

I couldn't have cared less about my dusty, old alarm clock. Why would I? It is by far one of the least preferred objects in most people's bedrooms.
I thought, why is that? Why would someone love an object that kicks us out of bed to radically end our comfortable night experience? We have bad associations with the alarm clock, even though the problem lies deeper and rather reflects how we treat ourselves in our every day life.

ELIMINATING FOOD WASTE

Do you know this situation? You open the fridge and there's this old-ish brown-ish-looking zucchini from last week which you don't really want to eat anymore? You decide to through it in the bin, it was only €1,99 anyways – problem solved.
This dilemma at a big scale is the daily reality, not only in german households. The high waste of food is not only a waste of money, but most importanly a serious ethical and ecological problem.

USING DESIGN METHODS AS A TOOLKIT

As Designers we LOVE to solve problems because problems are what stimulates us and our super power. For one problem there is a not ending number of solutions and first thing to happen is we tend to follow our first intuition. In the very most cases though, this solution would be the outcome of what we've been perceiving unconsciously lately.
"They wouldn't have been able to shoot humans to the moon based on their gut feeling. Therefor you need a planning process." Prof. Dr. Jonas

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