These days when we think about the latest evolution of Design we might think; Human-centred Design, Product Design, Service Design or Strategic Design… perhaps even Systems, Organisational or Business Design. Where Design goes next, and in fact, what design is or will become is a topic that I’ve always been interested in (and written several Medium articles on along with an MBA thesis). Now I have a more specific, possible idea — Design3.

Design3 is a term I’m coining/inventing here as that (necessary) complement to the recent emergence of Web3. Web3, or Web3.0 the decentralised Web (unlike Web 1.0 — websites on servers, and Web 2, user generated content via social, hence also owned/controlled by a few choice powerful players), is where no, one person or entity has the power — due to the very fact that everyone does(!). This is of course what underpins such things as Blockchain, Crypto Currencies, NFTs etc.

But this new phase is Tech-Led — apt considering that it is about technology at the core enabling that decentralisation, but this has also meant that many times it has become a solution looking for a problem.

How often have you heard someone say;
“Blockchain is cool, let’s use that/throw that at __x__ ! 💪”

That’s where Design (needs to) come in. Design is about problem solving, about humanising and bringing that focus and balance to the technology.

But I’m not stopping at creating the term ‘Design3’; while the term I hope turns prevalent, I’ve also created it as an entity, a vehicle, a movement. Design3, the venture, is a community and education play. It is a place where Designers can come together to share and learn, content and opinion. Web3 needs Design and Designers, but right now there is no one body that brings Designers looking to shape Web3 together, in a way that is holistic and with genuine design principles as its ethos.

But I’m equally keen that its not just another organic community. There needs to be, and will be; thought leadership, content with substance, a community of experts, money behind the creativity (investors & incubator), and an ecosystem for people to find their design-led, web3 roles. It’s great for businesses too — allowing them access to talent, having an ear to the ground of the latest ideas and emerging trends and being seen as on the forefront of the industry.

Where better to be inspired and draw from, on what this ‘d3 school’ might be, than the original, Bauhaus.

This diagram, references the Bauhaus curriculum — not that design3 offers a structured course, or accreditation (yet), but what it is keen to imply is that we believe that Design for Web3 needs to build on the skills and context present in the previous incarnations of established Design.

One component that may seem a little different from the rest (i.e. not tech-led), is that of Sustainability. Anything and everything we do in Design, particularly in Web3, should be underpinned by thinking about this. But it is not just about things like lower energy consumption by servers who run blockchains or green software. It is also about ethics, society, a vector understanding of Value. Let’s truly think, as per the ‘Triple Bottom Line’ — about People ❤️, Planet🌍 & Profit 📈.

But of course, Web3 will present very different challenges, and hence will require Designers to accumulate and hone a very different set of skills (much like the latest forays into Service & Strategic design have driven Designers to think beyond colour, composition, material etc.). We’re now going to have to start thinking about how we Design for Trust when transacting with Crypto Currency. We’re going to have to start thinking how do we ‘design’ AI, and ethics into AI?We’re going to have to start thinking, what is the human-experience in the Metaverse?

… all questions I’m not claiming to know the exact answers to, but I do know that the Design industry and Designers need to up-skill and start thinking about what comes next, and start shaping it early so as to keep things relevant and valuable for people, to build the new, very different products & services of the future.

The danger we need to avoid is that Design plays as a follower and just ends up branding new start-ups, making fancier webpages for web3 ventures, or delivers (hopefully solid) UX for d.Apps. We can see that Design needs to get involved at deeper layers:

Let’s look at it this way —
Do you know what ‘good’ Design looks like in Web3?

Neither do we (yet), but we want to bring designers, and design evangelists together to work it out, and make sure Design has a seat at the Decentralised Table. DeDe -Decentralised Design- another term to coin, needs to be born. 💥

Design3 — the future of Design 🛸

That’s where Design (needs to) come in. Design is about problem solving, about humanising and bringing that focus and balance to the technology.

Let’s look at it this way — Do you know what ‘good’ Design looks like in Web3?

Let’s look at it this way —
Do you know what ‘good’ Design looks like in Web3?