It’s fascinating to hear her explain about the power of design and how, in the 1800s, Dr. John Snow used it to stop the spread of cholera.

“I always love the power of design to take something that is complex and use visuals to make it compelling… and in this case it changed the world.”

With her Covaga project she points out that many projects are created and designed by the experts and sent out to the people who need them. She proposes that ”…we need to look at many of us as the expert. You are the expert of your own experience and the reason you don’t take action on things is because sometimes you don’t even feel you have a place at the table.”

Have you got any ideas you’re working on that need to be brought into action?

About Kara Pecknold:

Kara Pecknold graduated with a degree in English Literature, taught business communications in Eastern Europe and led educational teams in Thailand. But it was her ongoing fascination with language, design and the global impacts of each that led her to return to Vancouver and pursue an MAA in Design at Emily Carr, where she focused her research on cross-cultural design process. Her graduate work in Rwanda has been included as a case study in IDEO’s Human-Centered Design Toolkit. Kara can be found at Dossier creating design research tools or at Emily Carr University teaching a course she has developed that connects diverse students to the idea of designing for social innovation.