Suzanne presented at the 2016 Look Hear Festival. With the theme The Future of Design, Suzanne explored what it means to be a creative in our digital age. Today many designers focus on making technology easy to use, accessible, sexy and consumable, which is a good thing, but according to UK academics Dunne and Raby, there must be a shift in this thinking—design must create futures. It’s about speculating how things could be— to imagine possibility. It’s no longer about just solving problems, but scenario setting. As designers, we need to answer needs even before people even think they have a need.

Look Hear Festival is an annual event that brings together some of the finest design thinkers and makers to Newcastle to explore and talk about all things design, through presentations, panel discussions, workshops, a future themed exhibition and masterclasses,.