#007: It's Time We Start Thinking Beyond the User - Dan Griner - Director of Design, Innovation, and Strategy at University of Colorado Denver
Dan Griner, Director of Design, Innovation, and Strategy at the University of Colorado Denver, discusses his journey from a high school dropout and pinstriper to a designer focused on social impact and meta-design. He details his work with OtterBox, where he helped develop an innovation method, and his current projects with the Common Sense Institute to map homelessness systems and create PPE through the nonprofit Make for COVID. Griner argues that designers must move beyond user-centric aesthetics to consider the entire lifecycle, supply chain ethics, and planetary impact, citing biomimicry resources like asknature.org and the importance of empathy in solving systemic issues.