Unconscious Design : why we have become collaborative amnesiacs and how we can design together once more

When I look at our everyday landscape, I see a cadence of shame built into objects we barely notice. The fridge door that hides the cost of living crisis on the empty shelf. The CV that turns a complex life into a pass/fail test. The tent pitched outside a disused shop, that broadcasts homelessness to everyone who walks past. The accessible toilet sign that asks you to prove you “deserve” the extra space.

Through everyday artefacts – from a speeding ticket, to a toy soldier, to a traffic light – Judah Armani carries us through the stories and systems that shape our world, and the unconscious and unintended consequences of their designs.

Blending together threads from social theory, service design, and lived experiences, the book explores how designed objects – whether they were deliberately styled or evolved over time - shine a light on the underlying systems affecting how we live, who belongs, and who is left out. It is a call to design better and to do better, to consciously raise our awareness of assumptions and judgments, and to work more honestly with all groups within society.

Design belongs to everyone, and through collective collaboration we can design better to enact real civic change that works for everyone.