charting a path to a sustainable future

circular design

Circular design's answer to the traditional "take-make-waste" model is the "reduce-reuse-recycle" framework. We assess the organisation’s complete set of activities and resource use to identify circular and sustainable improvements, including longer life-cycles of resources, and minimisation of waste.

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Regenerative design

Regenerative design extends beyond sustainability. Regeneration is not just about reducing harm and maintaining the status quo, it is about actively revitalizing the environmental, social and economic systems your organization interacts with.

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who we are

The world is filled with complex interactions, connections and relationships. We seek and hold a plurality of perspectives to envisage an inclusive, holistic picture. Nomadism is comprised of Dr Vanessa Ward, Sandy Oh and Dr Stella Humphries. Together, we tap on over fifty years of skills and experience in business, design, strategy, science, research, ethnography, communication, facilitation to create future-focused, pragmatic and integrated solutions.

DR VANESSA WARD

Vanessa’s design practice straddles academia and industry. Currently, she is founder of the Regen Lab at University of Tasmania where they collaborate with industry and government to work on transformative projects using a systems approach. She also leads the Design programme at University of Tasmania.Vanessa’s industry experience spans the spectrum of strategic, brand, digital, communications, product and spatial design. She has global experience and held senior design and strategy positions in Procter and Gamble (Singapore) and leading agencies Fuse Project (San Francisco), Bruce Mac Design (Toronto).She holds a PhD from Glasgow School of Art and a BA+ Honours from the Australian National University.

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SANDY OH

Sandy is passionate about education and research in blockchain and decentralized technologies, and their compatibility with the emerging fields of sustainability, Regenerative Finance and Regenerative Economics.Currently she is an Associate Instructor at Lightbulb Capital, a corporate finance boutique with an innovation education arm.Sandy has over twenty years in financial and entrepreneurial experience. She had a successful sales career in investment banks (HSBC, Commerznamk, ING, J.P Morgan) and also founded her own businesses.She holds an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business and BA (Hons) from Oxford University in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

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challenges

Assess the system
What is the current status of the organisation's sustainability practice?
What are the measurable dimensions of sustainable change?
What value is lost through linear processes that can be brought into circularity?Reframe models and approaches
What multiple forms of value can be created when designing for a long-term perspective?
How can the practice of designing for second and third order impact be part of the organisations decision making process?Design for Circularity
What could circular outcomes for the organisation look like and how might they operate?
What are the collaborations and partnerships outside the organisation that would multiply the effects of your circular strategy?

tools & methods

How we design for circularity will depend on the specifics of the organisation. However, the common principles and goals are to eliminate waste, minimise resource consumption and to have a net positive effect on the social, economic and environmental system.Value chain mapping
Identify the inputs of your product or service to ascertain how waste can be redesigned as a resource.Organisational alignment
Co-create circular futures within your organisation. Engage and involve employees to build capability and
grow a circular business together.Circular ideation & prototyping
Develop and prioritise circular interventions to prototype, test and measure the outcome.

challenges

Plan sustainably
What are the first, second and third order impact of our decisions? What are the less obvious consequences of our economic and business processes?Contextualise the project
What are the needs and values of the organisation? What is the sector, community, and ecosystem that the organisation is part of?Explore regenerative potential
What is the optimum state of the bioregion? What is compromising the optimum state?Circular design responses
What strategies and design outcomes can be prototyped and tested to achieve the regenerative outcomes?

tools & methods

There is a broad set of tools and methods that can be applied within Regenerative Design. We select and use the relevant ones depending on the nature and complexity of the challenge. Below are processes that are central to this work.Research & workshops
We use stakeholder interviews, and workshops to co-develop and asses the system. The assessment reveals opportunities and challenges for design intervention.Speculative design
We engage in speculative design and scenario development to envision possible futures and their implications.Bio regional and circular design
We develop circular design prototypes that work within and for specific bio-regions.