We have a set of convictions that guide our work toward more equitable futures.
The term Sonder means ‘to realise that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.’ This understanding is fundamental to how we understand the people we design with, and guides our work towards building more equitable futures. Below are a set of convictions that we embed in our work everyday.
We see collective strengths as the platform for change
We acknowledge our power and privilege in all interactions as designers, facilitators and researchers in our projects. We try to position ourselves more as sidekicks that strengthen and support the work of others.
We safeguard space for a diversity of perspectives and plurality of ideas
We seek out diverse perspectives and work extra hard to put our biases and assumptions to the side. We make space for both plausible as well as preposterous ideas for change, and will be flexible with the possibilities.
We nurture co-ownership through open and reciprocal relationships
We invest time up front to listen, build trust and form deeper relationships. We aim to enable safe spaces for vulnerability so people can be fully present. We support participatory decision-making processes for greater collective ownership of actions and outcomes.
We believe the environment is an active stakeholder
We recognise the importance of protecting the environment for the future, so we advocate for bringing the environment as a stakeholder, and respecting it in our processes and practices.
We use visual thinking to make the abstract tangible and reduce language divides
We use visual tools to stimulate creative expression, provoke new ideas, invite dialogue, and develop alignment. At Sonder we see photography as a tool that can possibly cause harm, and reproduce unfair power dynamics. As such, we adhere to a set of ethical principles for taking and sharing photographs.
We embrace raw and messy creative processes of ‘learning by doing’
We actively seek out ways to get things wrong while on the path to getting them right. On this iterative journey of trial and error, our work will sometimes come across as unpolished or unfinished. We change pace for deep strategic thinking when those moments arise.
