Shape the impactful leader in you.
Design character encourages a deeper dive. To rethink, reframe and respond to a thorough understanding of yourself and of design. The intersection of which is uniquely yours.
Published by BIS Publishers. Available direct in Australia, and via BIS Publishers and selected booksellers internationally.
Five shifts in how you lead and design.
After engaging with the book, you'll understand:
- 01Your unique value system — and how it directs your attention and focus.
- 02How to have impactful conversations that move your work and career forward.
- 03How to establish strong boundaries for psychological safety.
- 04How to become aware of, and diminish, your blind spots.
- 05How to develop your personal ethics and enact them in your work.
Five threads, woven.
Each thread carries its own practices, its own way of paying attention, and its own exercises.
Design with conviction and clarity.
The inner clarity you need for resilient, confident, and impactful design leadership — how you be as a designer.
Build immunity to moral fading.
Understanding your personal values clarifies workplace decisions and motivations, bridging the gap between identity and professional action.
Establish your ethical practice.
Build an ethical knowledge base and create frameworks that guide your design work — becoming resilient against the forces that undermine values.
Understand wellness in design and leadership.
Learn to introduce wellness into your design and leadership systematically, extending to team and project wellness assessment.
Deliberately design yourself.
The Design Character Framework appears in each chapter as a tool for teams and for personal use — restoring agency over the dimensions of your character.
Purposeful, enriching, open-hearted.
“When a book is dedicated to those ready to embrace designing our future, you know its pages will be purposeful and enriching. This book has an open heart, beautiful soul, and profound message.”
“This book is for designers wanting more impact and accelerated mastery in their practice.”
“Among the best work offered on design leadership. Dr Melis Senova's understanding of design and human behaviour is exceptional.”
Work the book, with a patient friend.
The book companion will walk each exercise with you, hold your reflections, and point you back to the pages that matter.