As a community of teachers and students we will take a fresh look at how the World’s wicked problems are affecting the field of design. We will ask the difficult questions and consider how designers, in collaboration with other professions, can play a positive role in addressing them.

This programme is unusual because you will be taught by designers as well as non-designers. Why? Because there are no individual heroes in Societal Design. We have everything to learn from each other and by considering diverse approaches. The Teaching Team come from many different backgrounds ensuring that we are aware of real challenges, what has already been tried and potential points of leverage.

The programme runs over one academic year. The majority of classes are online to encourage global participation but we will also meet in Barcelona, Berlin and London.

Directors

The directors of the Master are Emily Harris (a regenerative economist) and Martin Lorenz (a conversational designer). The Societal Design Master started as a conversation between an economist curious about design and a designer curious about the economy. At the centre of our ongoing collaboration is a deep frustration about the worldview driving our professions, but also a love for their potential, if used for generative purposes.

Emily Harris

Emily Harris, FCA is a Chartered Accountant and a Fellow of the ICAEW who also holds an MA in Regenerative Economics (Distinction) from Schumacher College. Completing her training with Deloitte in London, she was a manager in their Big Ticket Restructuring Team during the 2008 global financial crisis, before moving on to hold international CFO positions. Emily established Dark Matter’s Next Economics Lab and continues to support the ongoing development of Dm’s finance and economic innovation workflows. Outside of Dm, she runs a regenerative accounting and economics practice and is committed to building practical tools for life-ennobling economies.

Martin Lorenz

Prof Dr Martin Lorenz is the Conversational Design Lead at Dark Matter Labs. He holds a B.A. in Graphic and Typographic Design from the Royal Academy of Arts (KABK) in The Hague, Netherlands and a M.A. and PhD in Design Research from the University of Barcelona, Spain. He is the co-founder of TwoPoints.Net, FlexibleVisualSystems.info, Coding Systems and the School of Systems. Martin has taught Design since 2003 at over a dozen design schools around the world. His book Flexible Visual Systems has been published in English (6th edition), Spanish (2nd edition) and Japanese (1st edition).

Indy Johar
https://darkmatterlabs.org

Indy is an architect by training and a maker by practice, he is a Senior Innovation Associate with the Young Foundation. He, amongst other organisations – co-founded Impact Hub Birmingham and Open Systems Lab, was a member of the RSA’s Inclusive Growth Commission and a good growth advisor to the Mayor of London. He is a explorative practitioner in the means of system change & the dark matter design of civic infrastructure finance, outcomes, and governance. Indy is a Director of 00 and Dark Matter Laboratories.

Bryan Boyer 
https://dashmarshall.com/strategy

Bryan is cofounder of the architecture and strategic design studio Dash Marshall, and Faculty Director of the Urban Technology program at University of Michigan. He writes regularly on the topic of design, including the book Design for Social Innovation: Case Studies from Around the World published by Routledge in 2021. Bryan serves on the board of directors for Public Policy Lab in New York City and lives in Detroit, MI.

Georgia Cameron
https://darkmatterlabs.org/

Georgia is a policy strategist and innovator at Dark Matter Labs. For over a decade, she has studied, researched and worked at the intersection of law, public policy, organisational strategy and community organisation in Aotearoa New Zealand. She previously practised as an urban planning and environment lawyer, before completing a Masters in Regenerative Economics (with Distinction) from Schumacher College, UK. At Dark Matter Labs, she works on the legal, regulatory, economic and social barriers to cities pursuing climate neutrality by 2030, and possible policy interventions to overcome these.

Oliver Vodeb 
https://www.rmit.edu.au/profiles/v/oliver-vodeb

Dr Oliver Vodeb is is an internationally respected academic known for his work at the intersection of design, activism, and critical theory, particularly in the areas of design for social change and social justice as well as extradisciplinary design research. He is recognized for advancing design’s role in the public sphere, especially where it confronts issues of its colonisation by capital and private interest as well as issues of power, injustice, and social transformation. He holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Ljubljana (2007) where he has developed a theory and praxis of Socially Responsive Communication. He argued that most of communication in the public sphere as well as most of communication design is based on onto-episemic positions rooted in i/rationalities of the capitalist market. As they are market/ing based they are largely socially and environmentally destructive. This in principle includes also professional “doo good communication” as it uses same communication logics. A necessary way to counter this is by developing communication/design approaches, resulting in dialogue or in the creation of the conditions for dialogue. Vodeb in his work largely integrates design, sociology, and media + communication and primarily works in the field of praxis based research. In the classroom he engages with critical and dialogic pedagogy. Dr Vodeb is regularly invited to lecture and lead design workshops at universities around the world and has directed six global symposia on radical design. He has been appointed as a visiting research professor at University of Ljubljana, Slovenia (2024/25). Dr Vodeb’s research is diverse and includes theoretical work, praxis based research and major industry research. He has published extensively and internationally in academic journals and book publications and has published several well-regarded and diverse books, with top academic and art presses, including Socially Responsive Communication, Indebted to Intervene, Food Democracy, Radical Intimacies, and What is Post-Branding? He is the author, host and producer of the Radical Design Podcast. Oliver doesn’t compete for awards, sorry. Vodeb’s praxis transforms design from a commercial practice into a collaborative, socially engaged, and relational form of critical intervention that merges design, art, activism, research and education beyond institutional and market boundaries. Its main contribution to the design discipline is the redefinition of communication design itself as a socially responsive, dialogical, and ethical practice that prioritizes relationships, participation, and cultural critique over products, markets, and blind client-driven outcomes, working for the public good and for the enrichment of the public sphere. When communication is understood as a living social relation rather than a transmission of messages, the entire logic of design shifts — from producing objects to enabling relations, from representation to participation, and from control to emergence.

Apolline Roger
https://www.clientearth.org

Dr. Apolline Roger joined ClientEarth in September 2017 to lead our work on the protection of health and the environment from toxic substances. In March 2023, she became the Head of our newly created Innovation Lab. Apolline’s first love was interdisciplinary research in emerging futures, which she did for more than 10 years as a University researcher and lecturer. The desire to turn the most innovative ideas into practical solutions made her join ClientEarth in 2017 to lead our work on chemical pollution. She brings to the lab her capacity to bridge research and action, thoughts and deeds. Apolline completed a PhD at Aix Marseille University Law School in the field of EU institutional and environmental law, in 2012. She then did a post-doctorate at the University of Michigan Law School in the field of risk regulation.

Silvio Lorusso 
https://silviolorusso.com

Silvio Lorusso is an Italian writer, artist and designer based in Lisbon, Portugal. He published Entreprecariat (Onomatopee) in 2019 and What Design Can’t Do (Set Margins’) in 2023. Lorusso is an assistant professor at the Lusófona University in Lisbon and a tutor at the Information Design department of Design Academy Eindhoven. He holds a Ph.D. in Design Sciences from the Iuav University of Venice. Lorusso’s work touches upon visual communication, memes, post-digital publishing, entrepreneurship and precarity, digital platforms, design culture and politics, creative coding, art and design education, videogames. His practice combines a variety of media such as video, website, artist’s book, installation, lecture. This activity is further stimulated by writing essays, curating exhibitions and organizing public programs. Between 2020 and 2024, Lorusso co-directed with Francisco Laranjo the Center for Other Worlds. He has been a member of Varia, the Center for Everyday Technology, as well as part of the editorial board of Italian graphic design magazine Progetto Grafico. Among other venues, his work has been presented at Het Nieuwe Instituut (Rotterdam), MaXXI (Rome), Transmediale (Berlin), The Photographers’ Gallery (London), Kunsthalle Wien, MAAT (Lisbon). His writing has appeared in several magazines and publications, including Volume, Real Life Magazine, Metropolis M, Il Tascabile, Esquire Italia.

Superdot
https://www.superdot.studio

Superdot are driven by the conviction to surprise people with innovative, profound solutions and to enable them to make their own decisions. Nicole Lachenmeier is the co-founder of Superdot and head of design. She is creative lead and specializes in design strategy, data experience design, design systems and typography. She holds an MA in visual communication and iconic research. Darjan Hil is the co-founder and CEO of Superdot. Expert in analytics, data visualization, storytelling, consulting and data curation. He holds an MSc in business informatics and an MA in visual communication and iconic research.

Humzah Khan
https://www.chancerylaneproject.org

Humzah works at The Chancery Lane Project (TCLP), where he uses the power of legal documents and processes to help decarbonise the global economy. By applying design thinking across legal content, systems change, and organisational strategy, he makes climate law more accessible, usable and impactful. Humzah introduced the concept of climate-centered legal design and sits on the Legal Design Summit Board.

Adam Islaam
https://www.clientearth.org

Adam is a design leader specialising in visual communication for complex systems and legal impact. At ClientEarth, he shapes visual storytelling that helps make law and environmental advocacy more accessible, from strategic branding and reports to illustration, animation, and integrated visual systems that support mission‑driven work.

Adam has a rich background in graphic design and strategic design management, holding a bachelor’s degree from Central Saint Martins (UAL) and a master’s in Design Management from Birmingham City University (BCU). His work bridges research, design, and global audiences; in previous roles he collaborated with over 300 researchers and partners including the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, The Developers Society, the United Nations, the Club of Rome, the International Science Council, and HarperCollins.

Maureen Mooren
http://www.maureenmooren.nl

Maureen Mooren is a graphic designer who engages with issues surrounding representation. After studying graphic design at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, she developed a diverse design practice focusing on corporate identities, books and posters, primarily for cultural institutions. In 2007, she and Daniël van der Velden won first prize at the Chaumont Poster Festival. She was awarded the Theater Affiche Prize in Amsterdam in both 2006 and 2007. In 2011, she participated in the Opera Aperta/Loose Work exhibition in the Dutch pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale. Since 2013, she has been responsible for the visual identity of the Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, where she also works as an art director. From 2011 to 2014, she taught at the Werkplaats Typografie at the ArtEZ University of the Arts in Arnhem. Since 2014, she has been a professor of System Design at the Academy of Applied Arts in Leipzig. Maureen Mooren lives and works in Amsterdam and Leipzig.

Humzah Khan
https://www.chancerylaneproject.org

Humzah works at The Chancery Lane Project (TCLP), where he uses the power of legal documents and processes to help decarbonise the global economy. By applying design thinking across legal content, systems change, and organisational strategy, he makes climate law more accessible, usable and impactful. Humzah introduced the concept of climate-centered legal design and sits on the Legal Design Summit Board.

Adam Islaam
https://www.clientearth.org

Adam is a design leader specialising in visual communication for complex systems and legal impact. At ClientEarth, he shapes visual storytelling that helps make law and environmental advocacy more accessible, from strategic branding and reports to illustration, animation, and integrated visual systems that support mission‑driven work.

Adam has a rich background in graphic design and strategic design management, holding a bachelor’s degree from Central Saint Martins (UAL) and a master’s in Design Management from Birmingham City University (BCU). His work bridges research, design, and global audiences; in previous roles he collaborated with over 300 researchers and partners including the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, The Developers Society, the United Nations, the Club of Rome, the International Science Council, and HarperCollins.

Lupi Asensio 
https://new.twopoints.net

Lupi Asensio graduated in Fine Arts from the University of Barcelona, specializing in Design, but she studied as well at the KABK in The Hague, specialized in Swiss/German typography at the University of Applied Arts in Darmstadt and did a postgraduate degree in Visual Communication and Cinema Studies at the HFG Offenbach. Lupi Asensio has taught typography, color and visual communication at different design schools, universities and master degrees. During 2007—2009 she became the director of the Graphic Design Master Degree at ELISAVA. In 2007 she founded TwoPoints.Net together with Martin Lorenz with whom she ran the Postgraduate Degree in Applied Typography at the Elisava Design School. Since then she lives in Hamburg where she has taught in different design schools and universities and she teaches Typography and Design in the KABK during the years 2020 and 2021.

Tim Rodenbröker 
https://codingsystems.info/ https://timrodenbroeker.de/

Tim Rodenbröker is a designer, creative technologist and content creator. In 2020 he founded trcc, his online learning platform and content-hub for Creative Coding, on a mission to open and cultivate Creative Coding to people around the globe. His teaching is rooted in a critical attitude to mythologies of ‘technological progress’ and investigates alternative, positive perspectives on technological simplicity. For Tim, Code is both a simple and highly versatile tool – not just to design for a wide range of media formats. More importantly, to demystify computer technology. Since 2018, Tim has taught at a wide range of academic institutions, including Elisava (Barcelona), Glasgow School of Art and ECAL (Geneva). As a freelance creative technologist, he has worked for a wide range of international clients such as The New York Times, IBM, the University of Pennsylvania, Julia Stoschek Foundation, Holo Magazine and Slate + Ash. Together with his friend Dr. Martin Lorenz, he runs Coding Systems, a design practice exploring the intersection of Flexible Visual Systems and Code. Tim is also part of the curatorial team for the Design in Motion Festival (Netherlands) and the International Creative Awards (Scotland). Recently he founded a small writing group called the Techno Essayists, which is open for new members.

Manda Scott
https://mandascott.co.uk/

Born in Scotland at 318ppm CO2, Manda Scott trained as a veterinary surgeon, but is now an award-winning novelist and host of the chart-topping Accidental Gods podcast. Best known for the Boudica: Dreaming series, her latest novel, Any Human Power is a contemporary mytho-political thriller that lays out routes to a paradigm shift that would lift us into the realm of good ancestors, laying the ground for a future we’d be proud to leave to the generations that follow us. She believes this new Thrutopian approach is one key to a future in which humanity doesn’t just survive, but thrives as an integral part of a flourishing web of life and it is the task of creatives in all disciplines to imagine the ways we want to be in the world, and then walk, sing, dance, craft them into being. 

Gurden Batra
https://darkmatterlabs.org

Gurden is a design technologist at Dark Matter Labs and combines different crafts like systems thinking, rapid prototyping, speculative and critical design, data justice and tech materiality together in his practice. He has a background in Computer Science and New Media Design. Gurden has played multi-disciplinary roles in various industries and different sized companies across US, Europe and India.

Mitch Paone
https://dia.tv/

Mitch Paone (b. 1982) is an American designer & creative director based in Chamonix, France. He is currently the creative director of New York & Chamonix-based creative agency DIA Studio. DIA specialises in corporate and cultural visual identity systems, graphic design, and typography. DIA’s signature use of motion and generative tools has led to significant collaborations with clients such as Squarespace, Balenciaga, SAP, Nike, Saint Laurent, Apple, and many more. Additionally, Mitch lectures and leads workshops at conferences and universities worldwide. Mitch and DIA studio partner Meg Donohoe are members of AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale). Mitch is also a performing jazz pianist, composer, and type designer, in addition to his work with DIA and academic endeavours.

Linnéa Rönquist 
www.kungsbacka.se

Linnéa is an architect and strategic designer, committed to enabling local systems change. With experience from across the planet, she uses systems thinking, design practices, and behavioural sciences to hold shared explorations of what lies behind emerging symptoms, such as mental ill-health, nutrition decline, or polarization, to inform new approaches that centre relationships and care. Linnéa currently works for a public sector city innovation unit in Sweden, where she applies her craft to grounded, complex challenges. 

Richard Niessen 
https://www.richard-niessen.nl

RICHARD NIESSEN (1972) is known for his colorful posters and expressive typography, innovative identities and his collaborations with other artists. In 2007 he created the traveling overview exhibition ‘TM-City’. In 2014 he then expanded this with the book and installation ‘A Hermetic Compendium of Typographic Masonry’, and completed the monumental 2019 Building Site retrospective at Le Signe in Chaumont with three previously unreleased installations. Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum wrote about Niessen, “By stacking and ordering typographic elements, he creates interweaving linear patterns that have virtually no equivalent anywhere else in the Dutch graphic design field.” Besides working in commission he initiates his autonomous projects. Niessen started ‘The Palace of Typographic Masonry’ in 2015, which brings together experiment, research, connection with other disciplines and the embedding of graphic design in a broader cultural history. Niessen teaches at the KABK in The Hague, conducts workshops around the world and lectures and exhibits his work widely.

Luna Maurer
https://lunamaurer.com

Mixed-media designer and artist Luna Maurer blends digital technologies with physicality to explore human characteristics. She co-founded Moniker, known for participatory and web-based experiences, and co-authored the influential manifestos Conditional Design and the recent Designing Friction. Winner Golden Calf (Dutch Oscar) for Best Digital Culture production 2024 with Emoticons Don’t Have Wrinkles. Selected for the 2025-2026 Netherlands Film Festival Fellowship for research in new technologies and storytelling.

Annette Dhami
https://darkmatterlabs.org

Annette has worked in mission-led organisational and network design for over a decade. This includes the crafting and implementation of organisational practices, processes and infrastructure across finance, teams, strategy, culture, programme design, workspace and more. Her focus is on how we build distributed, democratic, collaborative and beautiful ways of working together fit for the transitions ahead of us.

Vlad Afanasiev
https://darkmatterlabs.org

Vlad is a strategic designer and researcher, with a focus on urban and environmental governance, the use of forecasting technics, predictive simulation and modelling. Prior to joining Dark Matter he was part of The Terraforming research program and worked on region and nation-scale strategic projects across Ukraine related to territorial development and decentralised governance. He currently serves as a City & Technology program tutor at IAAC in Barcelona.

Simon Höher
https://darkmatterlabs.org

Simon is Systems Change Lead at Dark Matter Labs and passionate about creating just transformation processes with purpose-driven organisations. In his work he explores patterns of urban governance, public innovation, and digital transformation. Simon holds a background in sociology, political science, philosophy and economics with a specific focus on systems theory. He has been working on innovation and transformation processes with public, private and civic organisations for over a decade and is (occasional) visiting lecturer at the Faculty for Social Design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.

Adrian Shaughnessy 
https://uniteditions.com

In 1989, Shaughnessy co-founded the design group Intro. Under his creative leadership the studio won numerous awards, and at the turn of century employed 40 people. Intro was an early adopter of digital technology and a pioneer of digital motion graphics. In 2004, Shaughnessy left Intro to pursue an interest in writing and lecturing, and to work as an independent design consultant. His book How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul has sold over 80,000 copies to date, and has been translated into numerous languages including Mandarin, Korean and Japanese. Shaughnessy writes regularly for all the leading graphic design journals. He had a monthly column in Design Week, and was a contributing writer to Design Observer. In 2010 he was elected to Alliance Graphique Internationale, the invitation-only organisation comprising the world’s leading graphic designers. He hosted an occasional series of radio shows on ResonanceFM called Graphic Design on the Radio. Shaughnessy is co-founder of the publishing imprint Unit Editions. The company publishes a wide range of graphic design books. Shaughnessy is the author of monographs on Herb Lubalin, Ken Garland, FHK Henrion and most recently Margaret Calvert. He currently works as a consultant for art book publisher Thames & Hudson, where he oversees the commissioning, design and editorial process. 

Ruben Pater 
https://www.untold-stories.net

Ruben Pater is a designer at a moment in time when more design is about the last thing the world needs. In search of ethical alternatives he designs, writes, and teaches. His practice combines journalism, activism, and graphic design under the name Untold Stories. He is the author of two books on visual communication and design; The Politics of Design (BIS, 2016) and CAPS LOCK (Valiz, 2021). He lives and works in Barcelona and teaches at the Elisava School of Design and Engineering and the BAU college of arts & design.

Louise Kjellerup Roper

A successful leader and entrepreneur, Louise has spent her career translating the emergent future for purposeful businesses, giving them the tools and courage to successfully help drive systemic, positive change around some of the planet’s most wicked problems. Louise started her career in the 1990s in the burgeoning tech industry before successfully launching, running and advising cradle-to-cradle and circular economy brands across Europe and continues to advise on technology and innovation as Co-Chair of the TechNation Climate Committee and a Non-Executive Director of ENSO Tyres. Louise has launched thought leadership initiatives like Tomorrow’s Capitalism Inquiry, Bankers for Net Zero and regenerative business  leadership Imaginariums. Louise is Danish and lives in London. Kindness is her favourite super power.

Nathalia Del Moral Fleury
https://darkmatterlabs.org

Nathalia has 19 years of experience in business strategy and transformation. She holds two master’s degrees: the first in Business Management from the Sauder School of Business (UBC), and the second in Regenerative Economics from Schumacher College, UK. Her latest experience involved co-creating and deploying an impact investing fund across Canada, France, and Mexico. Prior to this, she served as the general manager of Yves Rocher for North America, managing 450 employees and overseeing end-to-end operations. Nathalia is an advocate for life-enabling economic principles. Examples of her involvement include co-creating the LEE Beyond investment program, and the bioregional currency design.

Elio Salichs 
https://new.twopoints.net

Elio Salichs Graphic Designer Elio Salichs is the son of a graphic designer. Driven by a desire to do something different, he initially studied Humanities at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. However, two years later, he found himself studying graphic design. Graduating in 1999, he completed a Master’s in Advanced Typography and built a ten-year career as an Art and Creative Director across various studios and agencies. In 2010, he decided to forge his own path; it was during the Design Werkstatt courses that he connected with Martin Lorenz and Lupi Asensio (founders of TwoPoints.net). Since then, he has coordinated and executed projects for TPN.NET Barcelona’s office. In parallel to his professional practice, he has built a solid teaching profile linked to editorial design and visual identity, with a particular focus on flexible visual systems. He has taught and delivered talks and workshops at different schools and universities, with international activity in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and the Dominican Republic.

Joost Beunderman
https://darkmatterlabs.org

Joost is an urbanist, writer and researcher. A director at Project00, he has led on a wide range of projects across the 00 network – from urban regeneration to employment space, from civic venturing to outcomes-focused finance for green infrastructure. He was educated at Utrecht University, University of California-Berkeley and the London School of Economics, and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.