The Shape of Innovation
In 2021 Altimeter met with leadership from the United Nations DPPA Innovation Cell. Our shared interest in creative approaches for positive global impacts inspired deep conversations about the current state of the world.
At the time, we were living amid the COVID-19 pandemic and discussed the transition that would occur when people from countless occupations began to return to the office following a year of remote work. Our initial interest in designing a set of “dialogue tools” to ease the transition from on-screen to in-person gatherings eventually developed into deeper questions about the potential for objects to translate meaning and facilitate crucial conversations.
Throughout the course of a yearlong collaboration between Altimeter Design Group and the United Nations Department of Political and Peace building Affairs Innovation Cell, we enjoyed thought-provoking conversations ranging from pandemic resilience to workplace hierarchy to creative peacemaking. A product of those rich discussions, What is the Shape of Innovation? is a facilitated workshop that pairs uniquely designed objects with language commonly encountered at the UN and asks participants to consider complex concepts—like diplomacy, trust, and security—from a fresh perspective.
To establish a foundation for the workshop, we invited artists and designers to work across various media and create one-of-a-kind objects inspired by word pairings—qualitative attributes paired with the vernacular of the Innovation Cell.
How to Spark Innovation for Change, Innovating for Peace Series | UN DPPA
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