Design has the power to
make this a better world.

We can create services for people that change their lives. But want we want to do is create services that start a movement. That’s when it has an impact on society. What you want is for an individual to use an app or service you’ve created, and for them to have a pleasant experience so they tell someone else and that spreads. People will usually want to change something that many people recognise as a problem – a common tension. And if they can find a way to solve it, they will all move as a collective towards that solution.

I was listening to Eric Schmidt at the Mobile World Conference and he literally said it is “developers who will be the ones to create freedom” because they give people the tools to express themselves. So, I don’t think about its about any role or profession – its about how you empower people to do what they need to.

You can’t be an elitist group of people who have a philosophy and a strict set of rules – you wont get the insights you need to change things. You need to have the ability to allow someone to come out of his or her shell and see the world in a new way. I think this is what ‘design thinking’ is all about – it’s about getting people to change the way you look at things. It’s literally empathy for the context.