[IDEA]

TDC’24: The Problem Paradox

How strategy and storytelling can reshape our relationship with problems.
The Design Conference is Australia’s largest annual events for the creative community. Each year, the conference invites speakers from across the globe to share insights, experiences and stories from their time in the design industry.

Arielle Bodenstein and I are far more comfortable on zoom calls than the stage. However, after noticing that many design talks focus on sleek solutions and polished portfolios, we thought it was time to share the uncomfortable, and often unseen problems that we encounter every day.
The creative industry loves to talk about solutions. But what if our greatest asset is problems? What if the very thing we like to avoid — the thing we see as an unwelcome or uncomfortable obstacle to doing our most significant work — is, in fact, the most essential part?

In our talk, Arielle Bodenstein and I argue for the importance of problems in our work and in the world. Drawing on our experience as strategists and storytellers, we explore what it could look like when we embrace complexity, seek out friction, and see the potential in problems.
Thank you to Ilana Bodenstein for the beautiful illustations and problem monster mascot; Emma Turney and Georgia Urie for bringing our slides, and problems to life; and Arielle Bodenstein for being the best creative partner and problem solver.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the first designers, innovators and storytellers. I am proud to live and work in Walyalup, on Whadjuk Noongar Boodjar. I acknowledge the Whadjuk people as the Traditional Owners of this land and pay my respect to elders past and present. Always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.