Expanding your Design Lens with Systems Thinking
Summary
Many of today’s processes and methods for design thinking and UX design feel limited in a world where we use these approaches to solve complex problems. Systems thinking is a mindset and approach that helps designers and researchers broaden their lens and empowers them to increase their impact. Join us for this session with Sheryl Cababa, the author of Closing the Loop.
Key Insights
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Systems thinking helps designers address wicked problems by viewing issues as interconnected wholes rather than isolated parts.
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Plastic pollution data often obscures the true system, as wealthy countries export much of their waste to poorer countries with weaker waste management.
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User-centered design can unintentionally perpetuate harm by focusing narrowly on individual experience without systemic context.
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Infinite scroll is an example where optimizing for user ease led to negative societal consequences.
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Systems thinking concepts revolve around interconnectedness, causality, and wholeness to avoid shifting problems within the system.
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Causal loop diagrams and iceberg diagrams are effective tools for visualizing complex system feedback and root causes.
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Systems thinking encourages engagement with diverse, multidisciplinary stakeholders including policy makers, researchers, and affected communities.
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Anticipating unintended consequences of design interventions helps mitigate harmful long-term systemic effects.
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Tools like causal loop maps do not have to be large or complex; even small loops provide meaningful insights and facilitate stakeholder alignment.
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Temporary solutions to crises risk becoming permanent emergencies unless designed with systemic foresight.
Notable Quotes
"We made a thing an actual thing. It’s a book called Closing the Loop: Systems Thinking for Designers."
"Systems thinking is not just about complexity but grounded in ethics to help deliver a better future for humans and the planet."
"When China banned plastic waste imports in 2018, it caused ripple effects increasing waste in Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia."
"Rich industrialized countries outsource their plastic waste disposal to less capable countries."
"Optimizing something for ease of use does not mean it’s best for humanity — infinite scroll is a cautionary example."
"Today’s problems come from yesterday’s solutions — unintended consequences emerge when systems aren’t fully understood."
"A system is more than the sum of its parts; it exhibits adaptive, goal-seeking, self-preserving, sometimes evolutionary behavior."
"Systems thinking requires collaborating with diverse stakeholders rather than working in isolation."
"Temporary measures have a nasty habit of becoming lasting emergencies, especially with new crises always on the horizon."
"You don’t need a giant system map; even two or three causal loops can reveal root causes and align stakeholders."
Or choose a question:
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