The Feeling Designer Blog https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/ Insights and stories from the Australian design community. Articles on design thinking, co-creation, UX research, participatory design, and innovation. en-au © 2026 The Feeling Designer Mon, 06 Apr 2026 07:35:56 GMT The Feeling Designer Static Build https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/logo.png The Feeling Designer Blog https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/ A New Australian Design Story Is Taking Shape — And The Feeling Designer Wants to Name It https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT The Feeling Designer began as a growing recognition that a different kind of design practice was already taking shape in Australia, and that it deserved language, visibility and somewhere to gather. hello@thefeelingdesigner.com.au (Jess Watson) Co-Creation AI, Ethics, and the Feeling Designer: What Automation Means for Human-Centred Practice https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT As AI tools accelerate through the design industry, the designers whose practice is most fundamentally human are asking a more precise question than most: not what AI can do, but what it cannot. hello@thefeelingdesigner.com.au (Jess Watson) Design Ethics What Australian Design Identity Actually Looks Like https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT Not the beaches and boomerangs or the moodboards with overseas references, but the complex layering of stories, landscapes and people that exist here. hello@thefeelingdesigner.com.au (Jess Watson) Australian Design 6 Things Trauma-Informed Designers Do Differently https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT Not a list of facilitation tips but an honest look at the practice — and the disposition — that separates designers who hold space well from those who don't. hello@thefeelingdesigner.com.au (Jess Watson) Trauma-Informed Design From Graphic Design to Co-Design: The Pathways Designers Are Taking https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ Sun, 11 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT The skills transfer more than expected. The mindset shift is harder. And the pathway is less mapped than designers often hope. hello@thefeelingdesigner.com.au (Jess Watson) Career Pathways Designing for Belonging, Safety, and Dignity https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT What it means to treat these three principles not as values to aspire to but as structural design decisions to make before anything else. hello@thefeelingdesigner.com.au (Jess Watson) Social Impact Design Co-Design for Designers: A Philosophy, Not a Method https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ Mon, 17 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT What co-design asks of designers who were trained to solve problems alone, and where to begin. hello@thefeelingdesigner.com.au (Jess Watson) Co-Design Design Wellbeing: What Sustainable Practice Actually Looks Like https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ Thu, 06 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT Not a self-care checklist but an honest reckoning with what it costs to practise in the way most Australian designers are trained to, and what practitioners building something different are choosing instead. hello@thefeelingdesigner.com.au (Jess Watson) Sustainable Practice What Is Participatory Design? And Why It Matters for Australian Communities https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ Wed, 29 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT A clear account of what participatory design actually is, how it differs from what usually passes for community engagement, and why the distinction matters so much for the communities it affects. hello@thefeelingdesigner.com.au (Jess Watson) Participatory Design Designing from the Inside: Somatic Practice as Professional Rigour https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ Thu, 02 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT For a new generation of Australian designers, embodied awareness is not self-care but a source of design intelligence that shapes what gets built. hello@thefeelingdesigner.com.au (Jess Watson) Somatic Practice Why the Australian Design Industry Is Ready for Something New https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ https://www.thefeelingdesigner.com.au/blog/undefined/ Fri, 19 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT The longing has been building for a while. This is what it is pointing toward. hello@thefeelingdesigner.com.au (Jess Watson) Design Culture