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Over the years, Ive written and spoken extensively about my belief that design has the power to change the world. I find daily inspiration in the many individuals and organizations leaning away from design as pure aesthetics and embracing design as a powerful tool for promoting the wellbeing of both people and the planet. I refer to wellbeing as holistic health. It includes holistic health of the people: end usersthose using the products, and makerssuppliers, producers, and manufacturers. Also, of the planet, because no design is isolated; it is always dependent on and embedded in systems. Our choices have far-reaching impact. Upstream decisions about a designs materials, energy, and water requirements for manufacturing and operations, and end of life, for example, matter as much as the final form or user interface. For a design to truly promote wellbeing, all aspects across supply chain and user behavior must consider the physical, psychological, and environmental wellbeing of all stakeholderspeople and planet alike. We are at a critical moment in human history, and organizations must go beyond business as usual to design products and systems that are deeply, truly ethical. In my work over three decades, Ive spoken continuously about this with leading voices in business, science, technology, innovation, and design who are championing this shift toward responsibility and integrity. Here, I want to share some of the insights Ive gained on how design can actively support wellbeingmaintaining beauty, while also promoting justice. FORM FOLLOWS FEELING In season 7, episode 10 of my podcast, FUTURE OF XYZ, I hosted Suchi Reddy, founder of Reddymade, an architecture, design, and public art studio based in New York City. We continued our conversation on a panel during Archtober on the topic of designing for wellbeing. Suchi is an expert on neuroaesthetics, the study of how art, architecture, and design affect the brain and body. Renowned for design that utilizes principles of neuroaesthetics, Suchis practice emphasizes how environments influence our emotional and physiological states. When designers tap into that, they are able to create spaces and objects that are not only beautiful, but profoundly enriching to users lives. Rather than imposing a predetermined style, Suchi believes design should emerge from feelings, comfort, need, memory, and neural response. By centering design on purpose first, the aesthetics then gain depth, richness, and endurance. When we design to feel, not just to look beautiful, aesthetics become more meaningful and design becomes more human. In her studio, Suchi translates these principles into projects ranging from small objects for large corporate gifting (like a stone dish and incense inspired by memory and scent) to large-scale architecture including residences, cultural institutes, and commercial showrooms. She asks: How much stimulus does a person need? Where do they feel safe? How can proportion, texture, light, and movement be calibrated to support wellbeing? True aesthetic beauty invites emotional attachment, encourages reuse, and resists disposability. Thus, high-quality, durable, purpose-rooted design is a potent tool for promoting both human and ecological wellbeing. DESIGN FOR A NET-POSITIVE FUTURE Design that promotes wellbeing, as Ive so far defined it, is inherently sustainable. That said, far too many products today are marketed as sustainable, yet the evidence goes no further than the consumer messaging. Real environmentally-conscious design has sustainability woven into its DNA, beginning with the materials and means of production, and carrying through the products full lifecycle. During our October conversation about design as a catalyst for wellbeing, Suchi and I were joined by Sergio Silva, vice president of design and innovation at Humanscalean ergonomic design company and a leading voice in environmental ethics. Sergio argues that true sustainable design not only mitigates harm, but must be regenerative to truly advance wellbeing This means taking a systems-based approach and pushing for circular, climate-positive models. Humanscale, for instance, uses lifecycle analyses to identify environmental impact. When negative impact cant be fully avoided, they deploy a handprint strategy: Measure the carbon footprint, scale it through sales, and invest in positive initiatives (like solar for nonprofits or water restoration) until the positive impact exceeds the negative. They dont buy carbon offsets or other more nebulous claims. This is a human-centered, forward-thinking approach that reflects a shift from doing less harm to doing more good. Its a vision for design where every decision, material, and process contributes to a healthier, more equitable world. DESIGN WITH CONSCIENCE Grace Farms Design for Freedom initiative is a groundbreaking movement uniting industry leaders to eradicate forced labor from global architecture, design, and construction. I have been lucky enough to attend the projects annual conference twice, and have been deeply inspired by the work theyre doing. Founded by the interdisciplinary Grace Farms Foundation in New Canaan, Connecticuta center dedicated to advancing human flourishing through nature, arts, justice, community, and faithDesign for Freedom challenges the industry to not only address its enormous environmental impact, but to confront an often-overlooked ethical crisis embedded within the built environments supply chain. Even today, achieving a truly transparent, slavery-free building requires systemic transformation. The construction industry remains one of the least regulated sectors in this regard, with an estimated 75% of U.S. construction firms owned and operated by a single individual with no payroll. Plus, the sheer complexity of sourcing, from raw minerals to composite materials to hard and technological finishes, makes it nearly impossible to ensure that every component is free from forced labor. Design for Freedom exposes these concerns, providing remarkable tools, solutions, and support to help designers, builders, engineers, and business leaders transition into a forced labor-free future. CLOSING THOUGHT To design for wellbeing means more than creating products or spaces that nurture users happiness and enhances beauty. It requires a holistic understanding tat wellbeing encompasses everyone and everything involved in the design and creation process from end-to-end: material suppliers, manufacturers, implicated communities, and the planet. Every design decision carries real impact, and to ignore that is to overlook the very essence of ethical design. Design can and should be a catalyst for wellbeingalways. Lisa Gralnek is global head of sustainability and impact for iF Design, managing director of iF Design USA Inc., and creator/host of the podcast, FUTURE OF XYZ.
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E-Commerce
Noah Winter brags he’s been to way more Super Bowls than Tom Brady.Brady competed in 10 more than any other player. But Winter will be part of the Super Bowl spectacle for his 30th straight year this year, not in uniform but as the guy in charge of the celebratory confetti after the game ends.Winter’s company, Artistry in Motion, also makes confetti for rock concerts, movies, political conventions and the Olympics. But the annual blizzard of color falling onto the field at the end of each Super Bowl is probably what he’s best known for.It certainly is what he’s most likely to get asked about at dinner parties. “It’s become an iconic moment,” Winter marvels, sitting in his Northridge, California, office and confetti factory.Jane Gershovich, a photographer who worked for the Seattle Seahawks when they won the Super Bowl in 2014, said that when the confetti falls, everyone wants to play in it. The players and their families have been known to toss it in the air and make confetti angels.“Just seeing the players and their kids engage with it at such a wholesome level, it brings a lot of joy to everyone on the field,” she said.So, what goes into planning and executing a giant confetti drop? Winter fields some questions: What happens to the losing team’s confetti? Artistry in Motion trucks 300 pounds (135 kilograms) of two-colored confetti for each of the teams to the Super Bowl. They bring confetti cannons onto the field with about 4 minutes remaining, and line them up around the stadium walls.Even if the teams stream onto the field before the clock runs out, the confetti waits until the timer shows the game is officially over. And the winners’ colors get the go-ahead.“It’s always better to be late then early,” Winter explained. “Sometimes players go out and shake hands. We don’t launch until triple zero on the clock. Over the 30 years, we never have launched the wrong color or launched too early.”The color mix is not 50-50, because some colors dominate on video, so the company has to experiment to find the correct mix.Massachusetts company Seaman Paper has for 25 years manufactured the tissue paper that Artistry in Motion turns into confetti, said Jamie Jones, one of Seaman’s owners. A lot of New England Patriots fans who work there are particularly excited about their part in this year’s Super Bowl.The company makes about 150,000 pounds (68,000 kilograms) of tissue paper a day mostly for gift wrapping and food service.“It’s a very prestigious but not big order,” Jones said of the Super Bowl paper. How do you get the best flutter? Winter has found that a rectangular shape is best for confetti because it turns on its axis and hangs in the air.But TV viewers might not realize that there are actually two confetti drops at the Super Bowl one at game’s end, and the other when the Vince Lombardi Trophy is presented to the winning team. That second round of confetti is cut in the silhouette of the trophy.Messages can be printed on the tiny rectangles too. For a handful of Super Bowls, Artistry in Motion printed social media messages on each tiny flag at the request of event sponsor Twitter.Some people ask whether the confetti is cut by hand (it isn’t), and Winter jokes that his hands get tired. Is the confetti biodegradable? The tiny rectangular flags of tissue paper are made from U.S.-sourced, 98% postconsumer recycled material, Winter says. The paper is biodegradable.The company makes confetti in the colors of the four final NFL playoff teams. All that isn’t used is recycled.The confetti makes a beautiful mess in the stadium, but cleanup isn’t Winter’s job. Every stadium uses a different approach, depending in part on the field’s makeup. Some use rakes. Others employ leaf blowers, taking care not to degrade the artificial turf. How do you get into the confetti business? Winter studied lighting design in college and did pyrotechnic work at venues including the Hollywood Bowl before Disney asked his team to recreate leaves falling and twirling for a live “Pocahontas” show in the mid-1980s. Soon, he was creating confetti for Disney’s daily parade at Disneyland.In 1986, Mick Jagger saw the confetti at Disney and asked Artistry in Motion to make some for a Rolling Stones’ concert at Dodgers Stadium. Then, he brought the fledgling confetti company on tour. Other artists, including Bono from U2, asked that confetti be made for their shows as well.Stadium concerts led to sporting events. The company’s first Super Bowl was in 1997, when the Green Bay Packers defeated the Patriots (pre-Brady) at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. The year before that, Winter had been a pyrotechnician at the Super Bowl, making this year’s game his 30th.In 2025, an estimated 127.7 million people watched the game on TV or streaming.Winter wouldn’t admit to having a favorite team, but he did say he has two brothers who are New York Jets fans, and he has promised to bring them to the Super Bowl to work a confetti cannon if their team ever returns. Quarterback Joe Namath led the Jets to their last Super Bowl, in 1969. Donna Gordon Blankinship, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
When Savannah Guthrie made a heart-wrenching plea to the kidnapper of her 84-year-old mother to send “proof of life,” she addressed the possibility of people creating deepfakes.“We live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated,” she said.Before artificial intelligence tools proliferated making it possible to realistically impersonate someone, in photos, sound and video “proof of life” could simply mean sending a grainy image of a person who’s been abducted.That’s no longer true.“With AI these days you can make videos that appear to be very real. So we can’t just take a video and trust that that’s proof of life because of advancements in AI,” Heith Janke, the FBI chief in Phoenix, said at a news conference Thursday.Hoaxes whether high or low-tech have long challenged law enforcement, especially when it comes to high-profile cases such as Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance last weekend from her home in the Tucson area.As technology has advanced, criminals have grown savvy and used it to their benefit, confusing police and the public and masking their identities. The FBI in December warned that people posing as kidnappers can provide what appears to be a real photo or video of a loved one, along with demands for money.Police have not said that they have received any deepfake images of Guthrie. At least three news organizations have reported receiving purported ransom notes that they have given to investigators, who said they are taking them seriously.Investigators said they believe she’s “still out there,” but they have not identified any suspects.Separately, a California man was charged Thursday with sending text messages to the Guthrie family seeking bitcoin after following the case on television. There’s no indication that he’s suspected of having a role in the disappearance, according to a court filing.She appeared in an emotional video on Instagram Wednesday, sitting in between her sister and brother. Her voice cracked as she spoke directly to the kidnapper, saying the family is “ready to talk” and “ready to listen” but also wanted to know that their mother is alive.Images of Nancy Guthrie, publicly shared by family, could be used to create deepfakes, said former FBI agent Katherine Schweit.She said ransom demands over history have evolved from phone calls and handwritten notes to email, texts and other digital tools. A century ago, ransom notes were analog. For example, when the toddler son of famous aviator Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped, a piece of paper demanding $50,000 was found on a windowsill.“Investigative techniques accumulate over time,” Schweit said. “There’s never less to do as years go by; there’s more to do. Digital and forensic work is a perfect example. It just adds to the other shoe-leather work we would have done in years past. Nothing can be dismissed. Everything has to be run to ground.”Schweit said directly addressing a kidnapper, like Savannah Guthrie did in her video, is a tactical move.“The goal is to have the family or law enforcement speak directly to the victim and the perpetrator, and ask the perpetrator: What do you need? How can we solve this? Let’s move this forward,” she said.Janke suggested to reporters that the FBI may have had some influence on Guthrie’s decision to release a video message.“We have an expertise when it comes to kidnappings, and when families want advice, consultation, expertise, we will provide that,” he said. “But the ultimate decisions on what they say and how they put that out rests with the family itself.”Barbara Ortutay and Ed White, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
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