People often think design is an exclusive skill practised only by design professionals. Together with the DesignSingapore Council, we set out to change this perception by giving centre stage to everyday folks — people who are making everyday lives better through design, even if they don’t all think of themselves as design practitioners. In this way, we show that creativity is innate in everyone and when coupled with a drive to make a positive impact, leads to solutions and outcomes that are truly better by design.
The People of Design campaign featured 14 stories starring personalities ranging from doctors and engineers, to entrepreneurs and business owners, to community groups and young students. The diversity of the profiles also served to kickstart a conversation about the universality of design across all walks of life.
Video Series
The campaign was led by a series of three videos that share the stories of the personalities in their own words, drawing in audiences with their authenticity, and making the design message accessible and relatable.
Video 1: The doctor reimagining healthcare for seniors
Video 2: The bookseller inspiring generations of creatives
Video 3: The startup founder turning plastic waste into roads
Social Media Campaign
All 14 stories were shared on social media, using a consistent visual language and journalistic storytelling approach. To capture the essence of each story, we conducted in-depth interviews, focusing on their personal journeys, motivations and how design thinking played a role in their endeavours.
Story Carousels
To fully showcase each personality’s story, we utilised carousel posts rather than a traditional single-image post to weave a richer narrative with multiple images, quotes and anecdotes. Quite aptly, swiping though the carousel cards also evokes the feeling of turning the pages of a book as you follow the progress of a story.
In addition to the main feature, bite-sized companion pieces were created for each story. These allowed us to delve deeper into the design thinking and solutions, presenting them in an easily digestible format using bold graphics and plain language.
Further amplifying the campaign’s message and impact, we invited the public to nominate their own People of Design and shone a spotlight on these nominees too.
