Design as an ecological redirection practice

I am a Freelance designer (since 2016) with 15+ years of experience in the digital design industry. I mobilise design’s theoretical and practical tools —systemic approach, facilitation methods, complex systems modelling, visualisation tools, iterative approach, pragmatist study, etc.— as well as UX Research methodologies to support ecological redirection processes.

As an intersectional and decolonial feminist, I acknowledge the political dimension of design and use it to aim towards a fairer world where the living and non-living can pursue dignity through existence. As an environmental activist, I practice ecological redirection. As a teacher and free and open source design advocate, I strive for accessible, resilient and emancipatory tech.

Currently working on…

Last updated: January 2023

…giving a hand to Framasoft so they can write their manifesto and better talk about their values and what they do to honour them.

…assisting le CEM into enhancing their learning center, Billie, so it answers both the school’s project and teachers’ usage and needs.

…the new version of Aerobuzz.fr which is already online, designed by yours truly and developed by « front-end dev extraordinaire » Martin Roy.

…helping students in their 3rd year of Interaction Design @ Strate Ecole de Design Lyon to discover, evaluate and redesign parts of the open source and free software Nextcloud (results coming soon!).

…bringing a use-centered approach to the tailor-made ERP developped by the Infologic team.

…refreshing the syllabi of my modules for MSc Strategt & Design for the Anthropocene in order to prepare school year 2022-23.

…planning my business year for Madame Guillotine.

Mentoring and teaching

Two persons are standing in front of a glass wall covered in post-it sticky notes.

I have been offering lectures and workshops in design and management schools since 2016.

I always favour experimentation and exploration. Through real-life topics and cases, I invite students to explore unfamiliar realms and unsettling design paradigms. Throughout teaching UX research and UX design, I instill topics such as ethics, politics, accessibility, critical thinking, as well as tools allowing to decipher design dogmas.

Finally, I support students through the writing of their end of year dissertation in the Master of Science Strategy & Design for the Anthropocene.

Design & UX Research

A screenshot of a digital collaboration board with sticky notes and arrows joining them

I have a degree in graphic design and made my practice evolve towards design strategy, design thinking and UX research.

I harvest complex data and transcribe them in the appropriated shape and form given the context and the signals they carry. I deliver strategic outcomes that nurture the design process (personas / use cases, service blueprints, experience maps, etc.), I model complex data into contextual visualisations, I perceive people’s needs, habits and mental models to transcribe them the best I can so involved stakeholders can inform their decisions.

I translate some of these insights into assets such as prototypes, style guides, etc.

I facilitate workshops, collaboration and co-design sessions as well as creativity sessions.

Workshops

Picture of a white board with several rows of sticky notes

I support groups and organisations through collaborative workshops, either within design sprints and defined projects, or within a wider context.

I designed the Fundamental Workshop, a service dedicated to supporting people and organisations through the expression of a shared values system and its operational translation into a strategy.

I offer facilitation sessions of the Fresques du Renoncement, an original workshop format which dives into an exploration of our own attachments to technologies, facets of our society and allows participants to experiment what it means to renounce and what it entails.

Talks

Marie-Cécile is standing in front of a transparent desk, she's wearing a Madonna microphone as well as a conference badge around her neck

I have been speaking at various events since 2012. Topics of interest vary with the evolution of my design practice and life experiences.

Among the topics I enjoy talking about, design and its stakes hold a significant space. I try to use my platform to tackle important topics like systemic oppressions and how technology carries them (ableism, racism, sexism, etc.)

The Anthropocene, its challenges as well as ecological redirection posture and tools are always somewhere in the background. Count on me to keep a critical eye on capitalism (and its digital / surveillance versions), contemporary work, subordination and related imaginaries.

Facets

Three persons are sat on two couches, Marie-Cécile is in the center and she is speaking in a microphone.

My professional life cannot suffice when it comes to defining myself or nurturing myself. Practicing design means being porous to pretty much everything. I nurture my designer brain with a myriad of other topics. I practice exploration and serendipity, together with a deep love for craftwomanship and doing things.

I spin, dye and knit yarn, I sew clothes, I enjoy gardening, repairing things, organising conferences, connecting people. I sing, I let long-term topics invade my thoughts, and last but not least I try to maintain an acceptable Vinyasa yoga discipline.

Benchmark & links

You will find interesting links on my Mastodon & Twitter profiles but I gather the most noticeable links within regularly updated and themed Flus collections. Flus.fr is a French RSS based aggregation and sharing platform developped and maintained by Marien Fressinaud.