For changing the game in sustainability with design
Leyla Acaroglu is a sociologist, sustainability expert and designer: she combines all of those into her work to lead the transformation to a better, more sustainable economy. Internationally recognised as a leading force in the movement for a sustainable and circular future, Leyla’s main interest is in shaking things up by design.
Leyla’s not just a designer: she’s also an award-winning one at that, with a focus, of course, on sustainability (she’s a UN Environmental Programme Champion of the Earth). A founder of the creative agency Disrupt Design and developer of the Disruptive Design Method, she founded the award-winning experimental knowledge lab The UnSchool of Disruptive Design. Most recently, she’s also founded a regeneration project and living learning laboratory, the CO Project. She’s a big believer of Disruptive Design, which she talks about as creating intentionally disruptive creative interventions that are functionally imbued with the objective of challenging the status quo and making positive change.
Indeed, she’s created cerebrally stimulating interactions, gamified toolkits, and unique educational experiences that help people think differently about how the world works, pushing people to be more creative while impacting the world positively. Her creations, the Design Play Cards, Game Changer Game, Secret Life of Things, Designercise, and the Gender Equity Toolkit are at the cutting edge of activated experience design. She has authored several handbooks for changemakers and continues to push for new ways of solving complex social problems through beautifully designed interventions.
Leyla isn’t only known for her creations, she’s also known for her words: her mainstage TED talk on sustainability has been viewed over a million times, and she continues to give talks all over the world on how to use innovative interventions to activate meaningful social and environmental change. As a trusted expert in her field, she’s led thousands of hours of workshops, lectures, activations, and educational experiences globally, and is regularly invited on international programmes. She’s even been commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria and is included in a permanent exhibition at the Leonardo da Vinci museum in Milan.