Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg always looks at the bigger picture when it comes to design. The writer, designer and artist sees her PhD in Design Interactions as an opportunity to explore design in its role as an analytical tool that examines developing technologies in the fields of science and biology.
From bacteria that tests water cleanliness to organisms that could stand in for extinct creatures, Ginsberg’s projects largely deal with the “process of designing living things” – a subject she says is loaded with “ethical questions”. Always searching for a project’s higher purpose, Ginsberg unlocks the potential for these emerging technologies through experimental design strategies that answer questions like “What can we use this for?”.
This approach uses design as a means of investigating the possibilities of a better future through the creative development of technology. The bigger question that Ginsberg is addressing in her studies is “How can design make things better?”.
She explores this concept in her doctorate by finding “different ways to test and strategise around this idea of ‘better’”, applying over seven years of study in synthetic biology to test this theory. Using design thinking, Ginsberg considers a better use for the progressive technology other than its conventional application in fuel and chemicals.
