What comes after Design thinking

If you’ve been in business or innovation circles in the past ten years, chances are you have experimented with design thinking. You have gone through the brainstorming sessions, you have done the crazy 8’s; and you have prototyped your ideas on cardboard. 

With its novel methodologies, fast-paced activities, humble-yet-optimistic “How might we’s . . . ?” and post-its galore, design thinking became instrumental in making design more accessible—to those in boardrooms and outside of them. It got more people involved in the processes of problem solving, codified an easily replicable process to create and test ideas, and gave its practitioners a certain designerly confidence to shake things up and see their products, projects, or problems in a new light.  

What made design thinking stand out from other methodologies was its human-centered approach, placing end-users—individuals—at the heart of services and products. Design thinking was created for a different era: a time when new products or services, often the brainchildren of tech visionaries, sought to empower individuals with the ethos to “think different.” However, today’s challenges call for moving beyond this individual focus to think and act in ways that transcend “the individual.” It’s clear that current social and economic systems are struggling to sustain life.

The world is experiencing seismic shifts: public trust in governments and businesses is waning, humanitarian crises are mounting, collaboration is declining, and rates of depression and anxiety disorders are on the rise. We urgently need to rethink the social and economic systems that shape our lives.

Designers, too, must explore new ways of bringing about and sustaining change. Likewise, business leaders need to adopt tools and mindsets that extend beyond the “move fast and break things” mentality and foster regenerative enterprises—organizations that not only sustain but actively restore life. Embracing a community-powered approach allows us to design systems that intentionally bring people together as catalysts for transformative change.

We need to think in communities.

While design thinking taught us to empathize (and maybe even place more importance on empathy than expertise), to listen well, and to bring creative thinking into board rooms, its core premise of human-centered design (HCD) missed the mark in a few ways. 

The first and most obvious one is that we can no longer afford to design things solely for humans. We clearly need to think in non-human, non-monocentric terms if we want to achieve real, positive, long-term impact. Second, HCD fell short in making its practitioners think in systems and leverage the power of relationships to really be able to understand and redesign what has not been serving us or our planet. Lastly, while HCD accomplished great feats in designing better products and services that solve today’s challenges, it fell short in broadening horizons so that these products and systems could pave the way for regenerative systems: the ones that go beyond sustainability and actively restore and revitalize ecosystems, communities, and resources create lasting, positive impact.

Now, everything that we put out in the world needs to have an answer to how it is contributing to a regenerative future. And in order to build a regenerative future, we need to start prioritizing something that is integral to nature: relationships. We need to grow relational capacity, from designing for better interpersonal relationships to establishing systems that facilitate cross-organizational collaboration. We need to think about relational networks and harness their power to recreate more just, trustful, and better functioning systems. We need to think in communities.

Networks of teams, customers, stakeholders, allies, or a combination of these hold immense power in shaping agendas and building strategic outcomes that organizations strive to achieve. We, as ATÖLYE, believe that true transformation will be unlocked when institutions understand and harness the power of these potential communities within and around them. We call this Community-Powered Transformation. 

Organizations are failing to bring together diverse, trustful, and collaborative teams, and they lack the ability to integrate the many systems, platforms, and teams across the organization to drive efficiency, improve business outcomes, and essentially, multiply social, economic, environmental impact.

Thinking in communities helps bridge these two gaps by prioritizing shared purposes, trust, and radical collaboration. Rather than relying solely on design thinking, which typically helps businesses ideate and prototype solutions, community-powered transformation applies to scenarios where lasting impact and deep-rooted collaboration are essential. This method goes beyond solving individual problems; it builds resilient networks of people committed to shared goals, ultimately creating project or product communities instead of isolated teams.

For example, imagine a city government looking to build sustainable urban mobility solutions. Instead of tasking departments separately and reaching isolated solutions; community-powered transformation involves bringing together a diverse community—from policy makers and local businesses to environmental experts and residents—who co-create sustainable practices, share resources, and maintain long-term involvement. These are not just initiatives that start and stop but ongoing communities with the purpose, trust, and collaboration required to drive sustainable change. The StreetMoves experiment in Stockholm is a great example of this: bringing together ArkDes, the Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design; Vinnova, Sweden’s innovation agency; design studios and inhabitants of neighborhoods to codesign and pilot a “One-minute City” concept, the project moves the needle towards the country’s net zero goals.

While design thinking focuses on the “what” and “how” of solutions, community-powered transformation focuses on the “who” and “why.” It’s a mindset and methodology for organizations, designers, and leaders who want to see lasting, collective change around shared challenges.

Ignited by these impact-driven leaders, Community-Powered Transformation can begin with any unit or function within an organization. In our work, we see four main drivers that catalyze change.

1. Community-Powered Product and Service Innovation

This driver moves beyond traditional open innovation by placing organizations as central players within a network of collaborators, including users and stakeholders, who co-create on an equal footing. Rather than the funnel of open innovation, it encourages a networked structure where actors can collaborate and contribute to the innovation process. For example, LEGO exemplifies this by inviting its fan community to propose, design, and develop new products, integrating community insights directly into their product lines. This approach fuels innovation with diverse perspectives, enriching the offerings with ideas that resonate deeply with the end-users.

2. Community-Powered Brand and Marketing

Social media has given each of us, and in turn our micro-communities, the platforms to reach beyond our circles and expand our influence. In today’s social media-driven landscape, brand loyalty is increasingly built on shared values and belonging. Community-powered marketing creates a sense of connection, allowing brands to grow through organic, community-based influence. Nike Run Club, for example, has established a community of runners who connect through shared fitness goals and experiences, making the brand a central part of their lives beyond just sportswear. By being community stewards, brands like Nike not only amplify their reach but also cultivate a loyal customer base grounded in shared purpose.

3. Community-Powered ESG and Impact Agendas

As we face increasingly urgent climate and humanitarian crises, businesses are expected to devise solutions rapidly and with meaningful impact. This growing responsibility has led organizations to shift from a focus on shareholder value to prioritizing stakeholder value. This driver emphasizes a collaborative approach where organizations engage communities in addressing societal challenges together, building trust and mutual benefit. Patagonia illustrates this by involving customers in environmental initiatives, from product repairs to activism. More than a customer base, Patagonia’s community is an active participant in their sustainability goals, driving impact alongside the brand. The pinnacle of this paradigm shift was when 98% of the company stock was donated to an environmental NGO in 2022—a shift that the company’s founder Yvon Chouinard declared that “instead of ‘going public’, you could say we’re ‘going purpose.’”

4. Community-Powered Talent and HR

Finally, as ”work” as we know it evolves with remote work and the gig economy, community-powered talent strategies focus on inclusivity, flexibility, and continuous learning. This approach empowers employees by fostering justice, equity, and skill-building within the company culture. Salesforce’s employee experience concept takes its cues from Hawaiian concept of Ohana, and revolves around being responsible for each other. This means fostering a workplace where trust, equity and wellbeing are prioritized. This community-oriented approach empowers employees to co-shape company culture and feel more invested in the organization’s mission.

In the face of these shifts, we need to reframe our thinking, starting with the word “workforce.” By shaping communities out of teams and thinking of each individual as a community member, we can build systems where people with shared purpose work together, and cultivate a refreshed sense of belonging. 

By creating a supportive and inclusive environment where team members can connect, learn, and grow together, community-powered talent enhances engagement, drives innovation, and strengthens employer branding and organizational culture, ultimately contributing to long-term success and sustainability.

All in all, we stand by this: business needs to do better. And we can’t do better if we are not prioritizing relationships, collective action, and solidarity to achieve regenerative systems. So let’s start thinking in communities, and about how weaving communities around us and our most pressing challenges will unlock great opportunities.