Creating a Shared Sense of Direction

The future of our work as designers and researchers will continue to evolve due to ongoing digitalization and advancements in AI. To remain resilient, both we as knowledge workers and our organizations need to embrace continuous learning. In the age of AI, this means creating new knowledge because nobody knows how AI will change our work yet. We must design the future of our work through experimentation. This will get us beyond ‘Babel’, which simply means confusion.

In our network, we encourage everyone to bring forward topics they find important for discussion. Recently, three studios from India, the Netherlands, and Mexico collaborated to invite us to reflect on the decolonization of design. This conversation is particularly relevant to our practice as design researchers.

The Reach network invited reflection, sharing, and connection through A Field Researcher’s “Guide” to Field Research–a collection of stories of decisions, pivots, and instincts that often go unnoticed, offering space to revisit and learn from them. Bringing together diverse perspectives sparks new insights, surfaces memories, and deepens understanding of ourselves as researchers. How can these shared stories continue to guide the way we work in the field?