MICHAEL JAMES

designer, researcher, facilitator, and leader

I research and frame complex problems using
design methods, systems thinking, and facilitation.

Then I design thoughtful and effective
products, services, and interventions
that lead to healthier systems.

Featured

Echo

data teaches engineers presentation skills

helping the millennial manager shape a trauma-informed workplace

Solemates

intelligent shoe store augments salespeople

CommunityCrit

engaging the public in urban design through generative microactivities

a speculative ritual to earn the deletion of a digital memory

Smaug's Table

creating an immersive Lord of the Rings dinner

a ritual for mediating long-distance relationships

A More Sustainable Existence: designing and implementing strategy and interventions to improve mental health and wellness at CMU with a focus on service design, cultural intervention, and campus-as-ecosystem.
Reducing HIV Transmission in the US within 10 Years: a design strategy, futuring, and social entrepreneurship process which led to a proposal for a social venture which would co-package and work to subsidize condoms and home tests.
Design for San Diego: I worked on the leadership team for 2017’s inaugural Civic Design Challenge for the City of San Diego.
Memothy: a speculative critical design project about a future in which building empathy is incentivized by the government.