Design for Change: feat Leap

As part of our Design For Good initiative, we aim to seek out and promote those that are designing for good. To shine a light on how creative innovation can be a driver for positive change and to raise awareness of the people and teams making it happen.

Next up, we’d like to feature a business that shares our values and ethics as a fellow B Corporation – here, our chat with Simon Thomason, Managing Director at Leap; a design studio that creates things they truly believe in, by using their skills as tools to create a better place for both people and the planet.

ADLIB: Who is Leap and what makes your business offering unique?

Simon: From day one (back in 2004), Leap has been redefining the design process to incorporate people, planet and profit. It’s our commitment to the world.

Leap has brought together artists, scientists, business leaders and creative
thinkers to create a design experience for businesses curious enough to go further.

We don’t just talk about doing nice things. We prove it, we keep pushing ourselves to do more and we show the world there is another way to design.

ADLIB: What has been the key thing you’ve learned about ‘designing for good’ specifically?

Simon: Two things that we always say. Designers in some respects have been the cause of the challenges we face today. We’ve helped create consumerism, so essentially we’ve been ‘destroyers’ not ‘designers’. However, we’re also in a very privileged position where we can influence so much more. Alongside Scientists, we have the opportunity to change the world and ensure we design for people, planet and profit in equal measures. This responsibility should be our rallying call to collaborate and create a more sustainable world.

ADLIB: Speaking of ‘good’. What got you interested in joining the B Corp movement?

Simon: Matt our founder followed the movement in the US from inception as it was the only true form of certification he felt that incorporated all the good work Leap had been doing. An authentic stamp and more importantly a movement of global businesses doing good things. For me personally, I joined because Leap was a B Corp and Matt’s passion for bringing greater change to the world. We are huge advocates, we support B Lab (the charitable arm) with design services and Matt is a B Corp Ambassador.

Every week we wax lyrical to businesses, agencies about the movement. We’re also working to create a county-wide status for Cornwall similar to B Scotland.

ADLIB: And finally, do you have one piece of wisdom for aspiring creatives that would like to use their talents to design for change/good?

Simon: As I’ve already eluded too, designers have a huge role to play in creating a more sustainable world. This is an opportunity to creatively solve the world’s challenges and as an industry, we should be leading the way. So let’s work together and start designing for change right away.

As part of our Design For Good initiative, we hope to make a real impact. If ‘designing for good’ is also something you are involved in please do get in touch – we’d love to chat through how we could work together and lead by example.

#bthechange