Seoul Design
International Forum
서울디자인국제포럼

[Jeffrey T.K. Valino Koh]

I'm Dr. Jeffrey Koh, an Associate Professor at the Singapore Institute of Technology, where I lead the Design Factory, part of a global network. South Korea is fortunate to have two design factories. I'm also co-owner of Chemistry, a design consultancy with offices in Singapore, Amsterdam, and London. We've been operating for about 23 years, specializing in service design, experience design, and planet-centered, regenerative, and circular economy design.

Our work spans various impactful projects. We developed portable ultrasound systems with GE Healthcare to provide access for women in developing countries. We've designed patient and staff experiences for major hospitals, working alongside architects to focus on the human experience aspects of healthcare facilities. One of our notable sustainability initiatives was creating a circular economy "toy hospital" for Singapore Zoo, where children can bring back and repair stuffed animals instead of discarding them. This project not only brings economic benefits through returning customers but also reinforces the zoo's conservation message through practical action.

The Poly Crisis

We are currently facing what can be described as a poly crisis—a combination of geoeconomic, social, and ecological crises. As Victor Papanek noted, "There are professions more harmful than design, but only just a few." This statement highlights the significant power and influence designers hold in shaping reality and lifestyles.

The Linear Economy Problem

Our current global economy operates linearly: we extract resources, add value, create products, market them, and shortly after, they end up as waste. Take the AI revolution, for example: AI servers and processing power currently consume as much energy as a small country, and by 2026, the energy needed will double. According to MIT Sloan and Stanford University, technology will mitigate at most 13% of projected ecological damages. This isn't a scientific or technological challenge—it's a political and economic one that falls directly within the designer's domain.

The Designer's New Role

The European Commission's 2020 Circular Economy action plan revealed that 80% of products' environmental impacts are determined during the design phase. This places enormous responsibility on designers. We are in a design renaissance that requires new approaches.

Our first imperative is to move beyond human supremacy. We must shift from human-centered design, which is often actually consumer-centered design, to planet-centered design. This means considering humans as part of a larger, complex system and preserving the planet for future generations. While human-centered design brought many innovations in the 20th century, the 21st century demands a broader perspective.

We must also move beyond the concept of the designer as savior. Designers can't work in isolation anymore. Our work exists within complex systems where furniture sits within buildings, buildings within communities, and communities within cities. We must understand how our designs interact within these systems. This requires embracing multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches, working directly with users and experts from other fields. A designer working alone has limited impact, but when paired with nurses, doctors, architects, or social workers, becomes a force multiplier.

The third shift involves moving beyond short-term "solutions." We must acknowledge that solutions often create new problems. Consider our phones, which become obsolete within two years, while the plastic bottles we use for 15 minutes take 450 years to decompose. When designing websites, applications, or products, we must consider their full lifecycle and long-term impact across generations.

Finally, we must think beyond design itself. When faced with a problem, designers typically respond by adding something new—a product, service, or digital layer. Instead, we should first question whether design is necessary at all. While this may seem like a luxury for those early in their careers, it's crucial for addressing our poly crisis. We must examine how today's solutions might become tomorrow's problems and be willing to challenge the need for new designs.

Conclusion

As Cliff Kang noted: "Design is a transmission of culture and values. It is a vessel by which we speak to other people without words and the ways in which we try to get them to appreciate some better version of the world through something we make." Just as designers in the 1930s invented a new culture of consumer demand, today's designers must invent new ways of living that don't privilege consumption as the only expression of cultural value.

Your task is not to foresee the future but to enable it.

Thank you.