It’s easy to get lost in the minute details of the thing we are designing. But thinking more broadly makes us realize we, as designers, have the potential to impact far beyond the physical product or service. It’s actually a privileged opportunity to think about designing those ripple effects on humanity, and how we can make the world a better place to live on a macro scale. I’ll dive into architecture as our case study for this one.

Best spots to go in Tokyo for design inspiration, with a focus on design research, speculative design, innovation, and architecture. Plus recommended spots to find cafes and nearby parks for those necessary breaks.

Most large scale problems require joint effort from multiple actors in the ecosystem. Reading about the architectural design rationale behind the Tokyo Sea Life Park made me think about how this actually promotes ‘designing for change’ in a subtle yet clever way. It’s one thing to make people care about a topic, it’s another thing to help them become involved in positive change.

I would go back to Kanazawa even if the only thing there was the Ishikawa Prefectural Library - but it’s definitely one of my favorite all-rounder cities in Japan and here are a few other things you may like to check out while there.