Cosmic Design

Once a quarter, we at Life Moments get together for a strategy day. They’re great fun, held at different locations in London each time, and most importantly these days give us a chance to focus on the future.

The following words are based on a presentation I gave in at one of our strategy days in July 2023.

What is Design Strategy?

Some say it’s about a set of principles to follow.

Well, I agree it’s good to have such principles.

I find the UX Honeycomb a great set of words to help guide conversations around where the value lies in a project.

But this is only a small part of strategy…

Some say it’s about understanding

Research, insights, and knowledge definitely help define what we’re doing, and why.

But where does the structure in our understanding come from?

Do we all need a Golden Circle?

Simon Sinek’s concentric circles have been a favourite go-to structure for many strategies.

But it’s very top level, and lacks detail.

Does Atomic Design provide the detail?

The Atomic Design framework by Brad Frost provides a strategy for systematic design and product builds.

It’s good, and we do use it as an approach.

But it’s more concerned with the small details.

How can we think bigger?

Introducing Cosmic Design

This ludicrous analogy provides infinite space for strategic thought and a natural structure at the opposite end of the scale from atoms.

It seeks to be supermassive, and encompass any number of strategies your business deems relevant.

…and makes presentations a little more fun 😏

The nebulae

At Life Moments, there are two main reasons why we’re doing what we’re doing, Profit and Purpose.

These are represented by the blue and pink nebulae in our cosmos.

The constellations

Once our James Webb telescope has focussed its gaze into the cosmos, we see the constellations.

Each represents a guiding principle that we believe is needed for great design to emerge.

The stars

Let’s turn our telescope towards the Purpose nebula for a closer look…

Now, it’s easy to say “our work must be inclusive” and have those in the room agree with you.

But HOW can you make your products inclusive?

Zooming in closer we see that each star in a constellation represents a topic of importance for that guiding principle.

Only now have we travelled far enough through the cosmos to spark meaningful conversation.

In the real world

We’ve already implemented solutions for some of the topics in our Cosmos.

We’ve also identified topics that are important for our strategy, where we’ve not managed to make any impact there yet.

But we’re on a journey (through the cosmos) to a better place.