Design for a Better World

Norman's diagnosis of how design helped produce our climate and social crises — and his prescription for reversing it: centre meaning, sustainability and the whole of humanity rather than the single user, and stop treating the planet's resources as infinite. A systems-level read that maps straight onto the SDF — the Humans component widened to everyone, the Sustainability and Economics mottos, and design as one actor inside a complex whole. Norman traces today's climate and social crises back to the belief that the earth's resources are infinite, and argues that the key to change is human behaviour. Rather than focusing on individual products, the book addresses the large structures that govern people's lives: work, education, healthcare, politics and the reward systems that drive them. He calls for a shift toward meaning, sustainability and humanity-centred thinking, in place of a narrow focus on the single user, and proposes new economic measures that better reflect what actually matters in life. Published by MIT Press in 2023, the book runs to roughly 370 pages.