Why design matters – Alice Rawsthorn talks with Beatrice Gallilee

If voters in Palm Beach County in 2000 hadn’t found the design of its new ballot cards confusing, Al Gore might have become the 43rd President of the United States of America, rather than George W Bush. Design has the power to shape our collective and individual history. More than just objects and spaces, design creates possibility – but can limit it too. So what kind of design do we need to build a better future?

In her latest book, Hello World: Where Design Meets Life, leading design critic Alice Rawsthorn calls for a new form of socially and critically engaged design. In conversation with design curator Beatrice Galilee, Rawsthorn will share some surprising stories from the history of design to reflect on its possible futures. She’ll present her vision for how design can bring us greater pleasure, choice, strength and decency, as well as tackling our most difficult global challenges. And she’ll show us how designers, as well as scientists, farmers, environmentalists, hackers, entrepreneurs and activists, are already doing it.