Design Beyond Commerce

​This workshop centers around a simple question: what becomes possible when we shift the focus of design away from commerce towards other values?

​Design has long shaped what we buy, how businesses grow, and why we keep coming back for more. It has opened doors to new things, but it has also deepened ecological harm, hollowed out communities, and pulled culture further into a cycle of consumption.

​In this workshop, you'll be introduced to a framework for shifting the purpose of design beyond the market and toward five alternative values. Instead of designing for growth, efficiency, or what sells, we'll look at what becomes possible when we design for Care, Community, Craft, Culture, and Contentment instead.

​Together, we'll question what design is for, who it serves, and what it could help make possible when commerce is no longer the starting point or the end goal.

​Who is this workshop for

​This workshop is for designers, creatives, artists, strategists, educators, and anyone feeling the limits of business-as-usual wanting to rethink the role of their work in social and ecological systems.

​What connects participants isn't a title, but a shared intuition: the current model is causing harm, and new ways of creating are already available to us.

​This workshop is facilitated by Ida Persson, who is teaching a weekend intensive course called Design Beyond Commerce as part of our Fall Semester.

​Registration is now open!