What would it look like to Shift the practice and purpose of design away from commerce and commodities towards care and community?

This question is at the heart of many of the DesignShifts I’m exploring. Much of design today is in service of commerce. We create or improve things in order to sell more of them. In the world of commerce, everything — even our water, land, emotions — are turned into commodities that can be bought and sold with the help of design.

While this is the reality in a capitalist society, I can’t help but wonder what it would look like to Shift of focus away from commerce and commodification towards care and community.

DesignShift: What if... our work was in service of communities flourishing rather than company growth? What if... we could put genuine, non-transactional care at the center of our practices, purpose, and processes? What if... we could move design away from private interests towards public good?

We need new ways for design to be of service to the greater good. We need to dream beyond the question “but who is gonna pay for it” and imagine a world where everything that makes life worth living can’t be bought and sold. And as Arturo Escobar said in Designs for the Pluriverse, We need designers to “walk hand in hand with those who are protecting and redefining well-being, life projects, territories, local economies, and communities worldwide.”