We know that better connected people are happier, healthier, and more productive, and that better connected organisations and other systems perform better. However, as we and the systems in which we live and work become increasingly decentralised, our ability to satisfy our human connectivity needs suffers.
In this talk, grounded in a decade of industry experience and five years of PhD research, I shift the conversation from explaining the importance of human connectivity to prescribing how human connectivity outcomes can be improved by design. I will share a simple yet powerful framework that supports designers, practitioners, and business leaders in taking a more thoughtful and nuanced approach to understand and design for human connectivity, focusing on those aspects most affected by a decentralized way of life (and work).
This talk is for everyone from business leaders to designers. As a business leader, you recognise the importance of strong human connections for creativity, innovation, talent retention, and more. You seek to optimise connectivity within your organisation, to enhance employee wellbeing and performance. As a designer you understand the importance of human connectivity for product, service, and system success. You seek to understand how to design for positive human connectivity outcomes and avoid inadvertently delivering negative outcomes in the pursuit of other design objectives.
Regardless of who you are, this talk will support you in taking an informed (rather than simply intuitive) approach to design for human connectivity.
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Peter Mandeno
In August 2022 Peter Mandeno completed a PhD in Design Engineering at Imperial College London. The focus of his research is Design for Human Connectivity. His main contributions to knowledge and practice are various tools that can support designers and practitioners in taking a more informed approach to improving human connectivity outcomes.
As Mandeno comes out of 4.5 years of intense research, he is currently exploring opportunities to apply his insights for maximum impact. He is consulting to all manner of organizations tackling all manner of human connectivity challenges. Since the Covid-19 pandemic people, organizations, and institutions increasingly realize the importance of human connectivity and his research and tools provide practical solutions to take a more deliberate and nuanced approach to address them.
Before his PhD, Mandeno spent a decade in various parts of the world managing and growing creative agencies specialized in design, technology, and storytelling. His interest in human connectivity was born out of a social experiment he launched in New York and went on to successfully test in 12 countries, eventually being featured in Harvard Business Review.
