Design must consider people and nature. This is what we learnt in school. However, after visiting a few design agencies during my Master in Strategic design, the conclusion was striking: we prioritize the client’s desires, namely time and money. As quickly and as cheaply as possible. But then, “what are you doing for people and the environment?” I asked.

“Clients are not asking for it, so we don’t do it” they replied.

Let’s forget the internship and let’s go to Lesvos, in Greece. There, I could be useful to society and help people. My work will be to help people fleeing wars and risking their lives on dinghies. And above all, I would be able to give some thought about the ethics and usefulness of design.

After a few weeks, I can already see improvements to be made about the internal communication of the NGO. I tell the coordinator about it, he accepts, we share our experiences, we experiment, it works: new procedures, new training, new maps. The usefulness of design is now proven. My work is shared among all the Search & Rescue NGOs of the island, that’s 400 volunteers per year. Motivated you said?

Two years later, I don’t speak proper Greek but this island has become my home. I worked with several NGOs: as project coordinator, volunteer coordinator and designer.

I continued to implement this collaborative approach which helped me to create a large network.

My colleagues describe me as a comforting presence in the middle of a stressful crowd: always with a smile and a plan. They trust me because, even on a stressful humanitarian context, they know I will come up with an actionable strategy that answer everybody’s needs and capabilities.

What I didn’t know when I graduated, two years earlier, is that our world is full of amazing and committed citizen just working on improving our world for a common good. I just had to take a simple action to connect with them to assert my values and skills.

One of my teacher used to say “we are all on a different journey”. What is your journey? Are you a motivated human being or organisation? Are you just missing that simple push forward that will bring you this huge change? What if contacting me was this simple little step?