Dream:In

As a design strategist and designer working on massive strategic and transformational projects in India and emerging markets, I questioned where design should start from. My hypothesis – the dreams of everyone; an inside out vs a top down approach to design enquiry, if we are desirous of creating more equal futures and a dynamic society.

The Dream:in Project is a practical exploration between academia and practice. The project has been adapted at Universities across India, Brazil and China. It has stirred up something in imagineers everywhere and, found believers globally and has been recognised as a gamechanger. In the age of machines, our imagination is the greatest resource we have as human beings, a way to move us forward, to create the reality that WE want. Zoom backwards and examine the blossoming of our relationship with the internet, as it built trust and a sense of connectedness and belonging. And acquired power over what we see, buy, think and … feel.

Zoom forward and see how a progressive medium is being exploited by regressive forces. To stoke our fears, create anxiety and manipulate our feelings, thoughts and actions. At the scale of communities, states and nations. As designers and technologists, as creators of new value and meaning around people and their dreams, we need to have our own response to the negative use of technology and human imagination. How might we shed our inhibitions, get out of our comfort ones and create the systems to dream, believe and realise; a safe place to dream, a dream incubator if you will? How might we, as a society collectively wake up and start dreaming?!! I will share the principles, insights and the recipe, to design with inclusion, impact and imagination at the core. Gleaned from practical experience and from the Dream:in Project. It has to start from us. There is nothing more dangerous for humanity than the death of dreams. So, let’s wake up and start dreaming.