The Life-centred Design Lab's Work
Discover the pioneering work of the Life-centred Design Lab and Academy—developing, teaching, consulting, and advocating for sustainable, regenerative, and more-than-human design for digital, industrial, and urban designers and business innovators.
Our Work & Story
‘Sustainable UX Buddy’ launched
A free tool for digital designers to learn about Sustainable UX as they apply it to real projects.
“More Than Human Milan” Design Studio
Politecnico Design School, Milan, Italy
Damien Lutz was invited back to Politecnico in 2025 to create and teach a 5-day life-centred design studio to guide 40+ service, system, and communication design students from around the world to redesign Milan to nurture both humans and urban wildlife. Using LCD Lab’s exclusive more-than-human design tools, the students explored how life-centred design and non-human personas could be used within educational and urban contexts to expand who cities are designed for.
Presenting & Workshopping Sustainable UX and Ethical AI
Sustainable UX Network, Hamburg, Germany
Damien Lutz co-presents and workshops with digital designers and innovators about Sustainable UX and ethical AI, with Thorsten Jonas (Sustainable UX Network) and Sandy Dähnert (Green The Web)
Free workshops for global climate action programs
Climate Action Week & AlterCop30, Sydney Australia
The LCD Lab cohosted—with Susie Pratt, Stephanie Bhim, and Samuel Yu—free workshops to support global climate action programs, guiding participants through the use of Non-human Personas to redesign Sydney to support the needs of its urban wildlife.
Introducing non-human personas and biomimicry to students in a forest classroom
Politecnico Design School, Milan, Italy
Damien Lutz was invited to assist Fabio di Liberto’s forest-based “Designing from a Plant’s Perspective” 5-day studio, teaching 40+ students about giving nature a voice with non-human personas and biomimicry.
Introducing LCD and Ecosystem mapping to students and school partners
NOVA School of Business, Lisbon, Portugal
Damien Lutz is invited to present life-centred design to students and innovation partners of NOVA School of Business, in Lisbon, Portugal.
“Reflections on the Usefulness and Limitations of Tools for Life-Centred Design”
Design Research Society 2024: Research Papers
Damien Lutz co-authors this academic research paper with the LCD Collective to develop the LCD process and promote community awareness and adoption.
Introducing Life-centred Digital Design to a supermarket design team
WooliesX Design Team, Sydney, Australia
Invited by the WooliesX Design Team to share life-centred design, foresight and speculative design, and take the designers through a workshop about connecting their design projects to the SDGs, and a ‘decentering’ exercise to use their privileges as design powers to help others.
Teaching creatives non-human personas to support their UN Sustainable Development Goals projects
‘Design For Good’ Program, Royal College of Arts, London, UK
Damien Lutz is invited to teach life-centred design and non-human personas in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), along with other speakers such as Don Norman and Daniel Christian Wahl.
“Life-centred Futures” Keynote Talk for Climate Adaptation
AdaptNSW Climate Adaptation Forum, Sydney, Australia
Damien Lutz presents to 140+ climate professionals how life-centred design can support climate adaptation and mitigation, followed by facilitating a 2-hour non-human persona workshop.
LCD Academy Launched
The Lab launches the Academy with a 7-week live-class program teaching life-centred design foundations, plus an on-demand non-human personas course
Incorporating non-human personas into Conservation & Design curricula
University of Technology Sydney, Australia
I was invited to work with the University of Technology Sydney to incorporate Non-human personas into both the Centre for Compassionate Conservation and the Transdisciplinary Design School.
Introducing LCD to students of responsible innovation
University of Sydney, Australia
Invited by ‘The Responsible Design for Innovation’ course at The University of Sydney to introduce students to strategies for tackling complex problems with responsible, regenerative, and inclusive innovation, and creating and using non-human and non-user personas.
Co-founded ‘Life-centred Design Collective’
Gathering designers from around the world who were exploring life-centred design, I co-founded the ‘Life-centred Design Collective’ with these great people to further promote and develop life-centred design.
‘The Non-Human Persona Guide’ book, framework, and toolkit published
After interviewing creatives worldwide, Damien Lutz establishes best practices for using non-human personas and publishes this framework and toolkit.
- #1 Amazon New Release, Sep 2023
Introducing values-driven design to futurist students
ECHOS School of Design, Sydney, Australia
Guest lecturing a class for the ECHOS Designing Futures course, sharing my Rapid Future Product Design method, merging speculative design with life-centred product design.
Designing life-centred future products with futurists from around the world
Speculative Futures Sydney, Australia
In 2021 I was invited to facilitate Future Scouting® for the Speculative Futures Sydney Meetup with budding futurists from around the world. Future Scouting has since been played in the Netherlands, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Australia, and it received a Notable Design Education Initiative Award in the Core 77 Design Awards 2021.
‘The Life-centred Design Guide’ book, framework, and toolkit published
Damien Lutz publishes his life-centred design research, framework, and toolkit.
- #2 Amazon Best Seller, Dec ’22
- “This book stands as a remarkable resource in our field”—Design For Good, RCA
1.5 yrs of Research, Study, Interviews, and Experimentation to create the LCD Framework
Sydney, Australia
Over 18 months, I immersed myself in research and study—exploring biomimicry, circular design, systems thinking, futuring, and regenerative practice—while analysing the work of 30+ designers and initiatives operating in environmental and social design spaces. Through expert interviews and hands-on experimentation, I brought together multidisciplinary practices from the fringes into a practical, cohesive Life-centred Design framework and toolkit.
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