Overview

Snook was a proud partner at Design for Planet festival with the Design Council. After several iterations running a prototype training course with DEFRA we are excited to launch our new modules designed to upskill teams and individuals in Planet Centred Design.  

We can deliver these modules as stand-alone short courses or a bespoke mix for your organisation.

If you are interested in the courses, please feel free to say hello to us at curious@wearesnook.com and we’d be happy to talk through the needs of your organisation.

Start dates

Contact us if you are interested in running this course or Planet Centred Design Training at your organisation.

The Planet Centred Design Modules

These modules have been designed so you can take as a whole Planet Centred Design course, or you can curate you own version in partnership with our Learning Design team. 
The modules run as 3hour Masterclasses and you can pick and mix the modules to create a an experience that reflects your teams needs, the Snook Learning Design Team are happy to help or talk through ideas. 

The modules: 

Introduction to climate change and planet centred design.

We will cover the causes, history and current state of the climate emergency. We look at the impact of digital services/products, and how designers can understand and help. Practical tips for sustainable digital design. We will share practical tips and methods from our digital team’s experience of sustainable UX and interaction design. Including a, challenges and lessons learnt 

Service Design and the Circular Economy
An exploration of the design opportunities presented by the circular economy. In particular how service design methods, such as journey mapping and systems thinking, can help companies and users to transition from linear to circular business models whilst improving the experience for all.

Systems thinking and Circular Business Models
How to use systems thinking to zoom out and understand contextual relationships and challenges in an organisation. This module includes consideration of how we design for circularity at a systems level to deliver value for customers, the wider society and the planet.

Research and design for sustainable behaviours

Learn how to shift people’s behaviours towards sustainable ones; whether it’s energy usage, consuming locally and responsibly, or travelling in a sustainable way.
Drawing on established theories if behaviour like COM-B for example.

Designing for sustainability and inclusivity

How to design for positive future worlds, where everyone is included, how to consider accessibility in the process and not slip into eco ableism. Where are the wins and where do we need to be aware of excluding people. 

Confidence in running a design project with the planet in mind  

Talking about the climate crisis is hard, especially at work. We will look at different approaches and tools to raise the climate in design discussions and cover how to run a design project with the planet in mind and how to include climate at each project stage.

What would you like to see?​

​​Our Thriving Planet team are always learning and iterating on the modules, if you have an idea you would like to look at as a bespoke course or even a subject area to explore we are happy to talk through, see if our team have the practice experience and understanding to develop a module for you. 

What do people say about this course?

“Snook’s team expertly tailored their planet-centred design training to Defra’s needs. The training was full of practical ideas and methods designers could add into their practice quickly and easily, and within days of completing the training there was a clear impact on day-to-day design work. This included the creation of planet-centred user journey maps, measuring the carbon footprint of interactive maps, and asking “what would Greta do?” as a prompt in ideation sessions.” Tom Frankland DEFRA (The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Who is this course for?

Anyone interested in how their design-related work may impact the environment and keen to learn practical ways to minimise or mitigate it.

What software or tools do you need?

The course is run remotely via Zoom, along with the whiteboard tool Mural, instructions and intro videos are sent prior to the start of the course. Bring pen and paper for sketching or taking notes. 

Who will you learn with?

A member of the Snook Thriving Planet working group will be joined by Tash Willcocks and Val Mitchell.

Tash Willcocks  

Tash is the Head of Learning at Snook, if you want to talk training talk to Tash. She trains Snook staff in the latest design techniques as well as learning from them in turn. Every client and project we have at Snook broadens our understanding of service design and we love to share this learning. 

Previous to working at Snook, Tash was the Director of Masters at Hyper Island, an international creative business school. She also talks at conferences and events globally like TedX MCR, Refresh Rocks Estonia, Creative Mornings Gothenburg & for HEC in San Francisco. 

Val Mitchell

As Snook’s academic training lead, Val helps Tash design and deliver learning sessions for clients and Snook staff. Val is an experienced design researcher and is on partial secondment from Loughborough University where she leads the User Experience and Service Design Masters programme.