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Providing individuals and organisations with a lens to understand systems and dissolve problems through systemic design – a combination of systems thinking, analytical psychology, and service design.

As soon as a person begins any action whatsoever, the action starts to escape from his intentions, it enters a sphere of interactions and is finally grasped by the environment in a way that may be contrary to the initial intention.

Edgar Morin

If you are reading this, chances are good that you have experienced the sphere of interactions that Edgar Morin is referring to: the complex dynamics that account for the divergence of results from intentions. 

We believe that off-the-shelf templates and canvases do not adequately assist us in steering complexity towards desired results. We have identified two main limitations of such approaches:

  • They do not perceive the systemic inter-relations, nor do they address the contextual nuances from which the complex web of interactions arise.
  • They do not serve as a conduit for intuition and creativity; the two prime ingredients in decision making under uncertainty and complexity.

To address the above limitations, our Advanced Program in Systemic Design offers a multi-disciplinary approach to learning and inquiry. In these we draw upon insights from Systems Thinking, System Dynamic, Depth Psychology, Design, and Expressive Arts. Our interactive, reflective and multi-disciplinary training program is organised in two foundations:

systemic design program overview mobile
illustration of how systems thinking and design beyond thinking fit together

Systems Thinking

Equipping you with the skills you need to learn in and about complexity, exploring thinking types beyond analytical thinking.

Design Beyond Thinking

Honing your intuitive and creative capacity to deal with ambiguity and uncertainty of decision environments. Learning to go beyond thinking, and putting all your conscious and unconscious capabilities to use.

Whether you are a designer, sustainability practitioner, consultant, change agent or managers, we help you to reorganise your toolset, and redefine your role in the quest for optimal solutions for the organisations, constituents, and ecosystems you serve.

For individuals

We provide cohort-based, live courses, brought to you in partnership with Franklin University Switzerland. Our 6 courses are spread across 2 foundations: Systems Thinking, and Design Beyond Thinking.

EXPLORE OUR courses

For organizations

Seeing a system in its entirety is important for individuals – but essential for an organization. Our training and consulting services provide tailor-made solutions for your unique challenges.                

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Testimonials

Participating in this course has helped me articulate my understanding of things I took for granted, or why something felt out of place.
Di DangSenior UX Designer, Google
This is one of my favourite places to be.
Kaitlin MoonService Designer, IBM
I presented my final project to my co-workers, and they were mesmerised by the applications of systems thinking.
Tamires TrindadePrincipal Designer at QuintoAndar
Arash Golnam is a 'must watch' for all Design Thinkers!
David MarchantDesign and Innovation Leader
I feel so validated about this course: that there are other ways to think.
Janel TorkingtonContent Designer, Facebook
Exceeded my expectations. I learned how we sustain myths about how to handle problems.
Ricardo MartinsService Design Professor, Savannah College of Art and Design
Systems thinking added a new layer to my design lenses.
Laura Gonzalez OsorioService Designer, Fjord
Completely outside-the-box compared to any other lecture I have witnessed before!
Adriana RuggieroContent Marketing Manager
Widening the scope about making the right kind of decisions. I feel it's going to serve me for the rest of my time in design.
Robbie MansonProduct Designer
Like taking an airplane for the first time: excitement, a bit of fear, but when you look out the window, you see the bigger picture of how things are connected
Anida PratiwiSenior Service Designer, Mendix
I learned to ask different kinds of questions
Nour SidawiCommercial Lead, Ministry of Justice (UK)
This course helped me to finally get serious on relations and dynamics of the contexts we live and manage everyday. And now for me they are hard, tangible stuff, not just metaphors as they were before.
Chiara ScesaGroup Design Lead, Growens
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world map showing origin country of participants

Our participants have joined us from 20 countries from all 6 continents. We are proud to represent a balanced gender distribution between women, men, and LGBTQ participants. Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, you will fit right in.

gender distribution - 58%female, 38% male, 4% non-binary

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The journey into the world of Systemic Design requires

a recognition of the interconnected nature of the world,

a willingness to recognise all these interrelationships,

a capacity to think about how we think,

a curiosity to learn how to learn, 

a realisation of the unintended consequences of our actions, 

and an awareness of complexity.

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