“Uncertainty” is the word of 2025—whether its macroeconomic uncertainty, geopolitical uncertainty, policy uncertainty or technological uncertainty. “We’re all navigating choppy waters,” said Kevin Bethune, founder and chief creative officer of dreams • design + life, a “think tank” focused on design and innovation services, at the Coins2Day Brainstorm Design conference in Macau on Dec. 2.
TL;DR
- The word of 2025 is "uncertainty" across macroeconomics, geopolitics, policy, and technology.
- A nonlinear approach to design and innovation is recommended, emphasizing diversity and collaboration.
- Collaboration across disparate disciplines is the currency that informs future innovation.
- Embrace ambiguity and explore diverse perspectives to navigate complex challenges and envision future possibilities.
In a presentation delivered to Coins2Day’ s audience, Bethune argued for a nonlinear approach to design and innovation. Part of that approach is diversity: “We work hard to bring disparate disciplines around the table to problem solve the future in uniquely different ways, together,” he said.
“Collaboration is the currency that informs future innovation,” he added.
The following transcript has been lightly edited for conciseness and clarity.
The uncertainty. We’re all feeling it.
We're all facing turbulent times, contemplating what to safeguard, what to discard, and how to maintain direction.
I'd like to offer some key insights regarding the development of our creative instincts for managing disorder. You could refer to it as non-linearity, following the release of my second publication earlier this year, Nonlinear: Navigating Design with Curiosity and Conviction.
However, before I proceed, let's pause for a moment and acknowledge that regardless of the strategy, the enterprise, the marque, the user interaction, or even the physical surroundings, circumstances exist as they do intentionally.
Someone conveyed the information to them, regardless of its accuracy. As we contemplate future developments and the individuals who will guide them, their presence at the decision-making table is undeniably crucial. For those acquainted with my professional output or published pieces, you'll know I strongly advocate for collaborative efforts across various disciplines and the amplified potential for groundbreaking ideas that a variety of perspectives can foster.
However, when I bring up diversity, I'm quite precise in stating that my perspective is personal. We all possess multiple intersecting identities. As a Black man who's made his way through the corporate world via some distinctive cross-disciplinary transitions, I can grasp the sensation of being marginalized, particularly when the criticism stems from a subjective viewpoint.
When I, as a man, step into a leadership setting, I'm aware of the impact my voice has upon arrival. I must acknowledge the advantage I possess when my statements are readily accepted, unlike my colleagues of different genders.
Regarding teaming and its development in this context, the significant caveat is that it's insufficient on its own. The act of teaming isn't enough. We must understand how we manage the tasks themselves. Our approach to managing is crucial, because when it comes to innovation, to bring forth something original and groundbreaking, we must be ready to adopt new methods.
To offer some background on the origins of these viewpoints, I'll share a portion of my personal and professional journey.
I often remark that I discovered design later in my professional life, and it also discovered me, yet I'm deeply grateful for the opportune moment of global advancement. My professional journey commenced as a mechanical engineer within the nuclear energy production sector. This is where I gained initial experience with products and acquired the skill of collaborating with highly effective teams.
Subsequently, a business interest emerged, prompting the pursuit of an MBA. I resolved to join an organization that offered not only strategic and technical elements but also creative endeavors.
The MBA led me to Nike, Inc., and I’m very thankful to start there.
My initial role involved business planning, but I soon established connections that led me to Nike's worldwide shoe development division, marking my first exposure to professional design and its application in my career. I then began actively engaging with this field, posing inquiries. These questions opened doors for me to work on side projects, learning the craft of footwear design for a few departments that were open to providing me with a chance.
I'm deeply grateful for that opportunity, yet I observed that the external landscape beyond Nike was evolving, embracing this concept of multidisciplinary convergence. While several footwear endeavors were excellent, they didn't fully address my fundamental creative needs.
I opted to depart from Nike to pursue further graduate studies, aiming to strengthen my creative background. This choice has enabled me to act as a creative co-founder, assisting in developing design and innovation strengths within areas that hadn't previously recognized the impact of creative solutions.
I had the opportunity to present the insights gained regarding the process of truly rethinking design and establishing it within those environments. This experience was the catalyst for the creation of the consultancy I now manage, dreams • design + life.
We strive to unite diverse fields to collaboratively address future challenges through innovative approaches. Subsequently, we utilize the expertise of design to guarantee that the opportunities we develop are indeed consistent and impactful within the environments and future scenarios our team discovers. This applies to areas ranging from consumer electronics within volatile cryptocurrency markets to integrating profound scientific understanding with human-focused behavioral shifts in biotechnology.
Our focus is on developing systems that genuinely connect with individuals' current circumstances. Specifically, this platform offers its users a capability enabling them to better understand their health and well-being, informed by the scientific analysis of human breath. This also assists numerous diverse companies, regardless of their scale, in discovering avenues for innovation by effectively employing design principles.
This leads to this notion of a nonlinear approach. What do I mean by that?
Hopefully, those stories illustrate my strong conviction in the efficacy of this teamwork and the integration of various fields.
I hold the view that partnership serves as the valuable asset driving forward future advancements. The subsequent inquiry then arises: what outcomes emerge from such cooperative efforts?
We must be mindful of every design and business choice, considering how it affects the wider ecosystem. Therefore, beyond commercial and client considerations, we should examine the consequences of these choices on environmental responsibility, data integrity, confidentiality, and similar areas.
Furthermore, we must consider the impact of societal disparity on many of the intended demographics we claim to assist.
Societal imbalance is a difficult one, and for me, it’s personal.
Returning to the story I previously mentioned regarding diversity, the subsequent visual I'm about to present stems from my own family's personal journey and background.
It’s a picture of my mother when she was two years old, being held by my late grandmother.
This photograph was featured in the press during that period. The family had just arrived back at their residence one Sunday morning, only to discover their house had been completely destroyed by arson, perpetrated by white supremacists, a manifestation of the hostility prevalent in their neighborhood.
Overt assault on humanity? Absolutely.
However, unbeknownst to many, numerous clandestine influences were active, alongside various commercial and governmental entities attempting to coerce Black families who owned land into relinquishing their properties. This was done to facilitate local development projects, such as the construction of highways, and you've likely heard discussions about redlining and similar practices. This particular account serves as just one illustration among many within my family's history.
We must be courageous in how we foster a collaborative framework that resolves these complexities. This is crucial. The inquiry then arises, by uniting in this manner, what capabilities does it afford us?
From my perspective, we're capable of glimpsing what's ahead. If I'm presenting a reflection, observing the far-off timeline, collectively, we can perceive the future from various perspectives. We can observe the future from the viewpoint of individuals, thoroughly examining their requirements and standards of worth. We can see it through the lens of sectors, genuinely challenging some of the fundamental beliefs about how a sector ought to operate, and then thoroughly scrutinizing those beliefs, subsequently introducing a wide array of developments and illustrations to spark creativity regarding what can be achieved.
If we consider this perspective and shift it along the timeline; what's fascinating is that, as creators, we have the ability to experiment and accommodate the rise and fall of various styles and frameworks as they converge throughout history, and we can examine and envision a wide array of potential future outcomes.
Envisioning the future landscape prior to conceptualizing resolutions—truly stimulating work to be able to explore that path.
By doing so, we're preparing our staff to forge organic links and associations among the varied insights, information, and creative prompts we discover. This allows us to conceive of fresh narratives and frameworks that capture attention, which can then be integrated into any product development or innovation approach.
Here I’m showing a rubric that’s very familiar to a lot of us, the double diamond, one of many.
At times, I feel a slight discomfort with the straightforwardness of these kinds of structures, as they might seem insufficient when confronted with intricate situations. Complications can arise.
My point is that we should truly value the subtleties that extend past the basic structure. This is because existence is disordered, and intricacy is a fact.
Even with the best of intentions, if I implement a strategy on a particular undertaking, I anticipate it will yield similar results across the subsequent ten undertakings—however, this isn't always the case. We tend to become rigid when initial successes occur, carrying them over to the next endeavor. By doing so, we eliminate potential risks from our methodology. Therefore, I'm advocating for this concept of a literal "forest of ambiguity," a concept I illustrated with a diagram in my second publication.
I possess numerous options regarding my actions at that juncture. I can assess my existing knowledge. I can also evaluate the extent of my ignorance.
I can say, “Hey, what can I make?” I’m a designer, I can always make something, and it doesn’t have to be a solution. I can offer a speculation or a probe to ask deeper questions.
As I traverse that wooded area, what knowledge might I gain? And what understandings and possibilities can illuminate my path as I proceed. Frequently, at the commencement of an endeavor, we inquire, what does the information reveal? I'm not here to dismiss data. Information can prove beneficial.
From what I've seen, numerous endeavors frequently lack the more substantial elements alongside the supporting concept of definitive information we might already possess.
The rich data encompasses sentiments, actions, unique traits, societal customs, and the elements that define our humanity. Extracting this kind of information necessitates dedicating a significantly greater duration to interacting with a restricted group of individuals. This approach can, moreover, supplement the definitive or numerical information gathered from statistically robust populations.
We can dig for the substance when we do that.
The subsequent rubric draws from the significant contributions of Liz Sanders and Peter Stappers. It aims to chart the research terrain, enabling us to recognize that various options are available.
Regarding the qualitative understanding we seek and discover, businesses frequently employ focus groups and individual discussions with their intended consumers. However, it's crucial to acknowledge the array of investigative methods stemming from diverse perspectives, such as those driven by design, expertise, or research. We possess a comprehensive selection of options to scrutinize the actual behaviors of individuals, their sentiments, thoughts, and how they perceive themselves within specific situations.
If I were to pose this question to the individual, using the biotechnology illustration as a reference, and mention “Tell me about your relationship with health and wellness in your life.”, it's a rather broad inquiry, and she might struggle to genuinely respond to it.
However, if I were to select a specific method and state, “Hey, I want you to draw me a picture of your relationship with health and wellness over the course of your life, through your life journey, through the ebbs and flows and inflection points. Draw me a picture for 10 minutes.”
By simply recalling her ingrained habits and focusing on visual cues, we can engage in a discussion that reveals and brings to light a host of hidden understandings and subtleties, allowing for enhanced appreciation.
A few final thoughts as I wrap up.
This four-quadrant depiction serves as a general classification. The vertical dimension represents the discernible actions exhibited by groups, single people, and entities. During periods of transition, individuals may either be responding passively, feeling pressured, or adopting a defensive stance; alternatively, some are proactively engaging, asserting their influence, and anticipating the shifts.
The horizontal dimension illustrates the character of transformation. At times, change follows a foreseeable, steady path, or it could become unmanageable—exceeding our grasp, erratic. We might simply append some descriptors to each of these sections.
Within the expected, protective zone, one might observe a reluctance towards risk. Peril is undesirable. Setbacks are unwelcome. Maintaining control and safeguarding current conditions. A mindset where one party's gain is another's loss.
As we advance toward the active, forward-thinking domain, a recognition of the equilibrium between potential hazards and gains may emerge. Through a lens of systems thinking, individuals will likely value both the broader context and specific details, potentially enabling us to shatter limitations and foster avenues for transformation.
However, what truly energizes me is the top-right section, this concept of intensifying non-linear approaches, fostering cross-disciplinary teamwork, and valuing variety—this allows us to broaden the scope of possibilities.
We're able to employ our ingenuity to engage with the masses, not solely an individual. A mindset geared towards development is within our reach. We can accept setbacks, especially regarding generative AI, we can feel enthusiastic about its potential to enhance our creative abilities, and we can become more sensitive to cultural nuances.
