Release 0.32 · 13 October 2026

Design Horizon: routes into systems practice

Design Horizon is Ruth Guerra’s free resource library, developed through Phenomena Co-Design. It connects systemic, transition, regenerative, values-based and other design approaches. Its About page says the copy and resource selection are human-curated and suggestions are reviewed by hand.

Benjamin P Taylor highlighted it in a SysCoI post on 11 October 2026. The eight selections below offer useful routes into systems practice. The short descriptions summarise the inspected source pages; the questions and atlas cross-links are editorial invitations, not claims of influence or evidence that a method works.

Kecia Bertermann and Julia Coffman

Embedding Learning in Systems Change

A framework connecting hypotheses, assumptions, learning questions, evidence and regular reflection to strategic decisions.

Try this question: What evidence would change your next decision?

Compare: Learning design and learning conversations

Publication date not stated on the landing page · Source landing page inspected; six downloadable briefs are further reading.

Source reference

The Framework's Five Connected Elements; Download the Briefs. Route discovered through Design Horizon; destination inspected 13 October 2026.

Design Council

Systemic Design Framework

A design framework that extends the Double Diamond to include relationships, leadership and continuing the work beyond a project.

Try this question: Which relationships and decisions sit outside the visible project process?

Compare: Systemic Design

Current resource page; publication date not stated · Official framework page inspected; framework and toolkit marked CC BY 4.0.

Source reference

Systemic Design Framework; Systemic Design Toolkit; Designing for Legacy. Route discovered through Design Horizon; destination inspected 13 October 2026.

Design Justice Network

Design Justice Network Principles

Ten principles about who shapes design decisions, community impact, facilitation and community control. The original principles remain at their source under CC BY-ND 4.0.

Try this question: Who can change the design, rather than merely comment on it?

Compare: Critical Systems Heuristics

Last update: summer 2018 · All ten principles inspected. The atlas comparison is editorial; no historical influence is asserted.

Source reference

Principles 2, 3, 5, 8 and 10; licence statement. Route discovered through Design Horizon; destination inspected 13 October 2026.

Yulia Besplemennova and Roberta Tassi

Systems thinking for service design

A working paper proposing changes to service-design tools so that they attend to changing behaviour, relationships and longer-term consequences.

Try this question: What would your service map show if you extended its timeframe?

Compare: Design thinking

2018; RSD7, Turin, 23–26 October · Repository citation, abstract and introductory argument inspected; full case-study evaluation remains open.

Source reference

PDF pp. 1–4: repository citation, abstract and introduction. Route discovered through Design Horizon; destination inspected 13 October 2026.

United Nations Development Programme

UNDP Systems Portfolio Guide

A source route into UNDP's guidance and templates for organising work as a portfolio rather than a set of isolated projects.

Try this question: What could the initiatives learn from one another?

Compare: Systems change

Publication date not stated on the guide landing page · Official guide route inspected; linked templates are further reading.

Source reference

Guide landing page and resource navigation. Route discovered through Design Horizon; destination inspected 13 October 2026.

Human Learning Systems community

Human Learning Systems: reports and guides

Reports and practical guides on public management that makes room for human relationships, learning and complex situations.

Try this question: How does evidence from people's lives change how a service is managed?

Compare: Human Learning Systems

Collection of publications with separate dates · Collection page inspected; individual reports need their own reading and assessment.

Source reference

Reports and Guides collection. Route discovered through Design Horizon; destination inspected 13 October 2026.

Saskia Rysenbry, Rachel Maria Taylor and Anna Birney / School of System Change

Anindita's Story

A practitioner account of Anindita Ghosh's work with Q, connecting personal reflection, design and collaboration in health systems.

Try this question: How does a practitioner's own participation affect the change they seek?

Compare: Evaluation and reflexivity practice

Date not stated on the inspected page · Published case account inspected; its account is not independent evidence of general effectiveness.

Source reference

Case Study: Anindita's Story. Route discovered through Design Horizon; destination inspected 13 October 2026.

Laurie Smith and Kathy Smith / Nesta

Our Futures: By the people, for the people

A report on involving people in imagining and shaping futures, with examples beyond conventional consultation.

Try this question: Whose future is being imagined, and who can act on it?

Compare: Scenario planning

See report source for publication details · Report overview inspected; full report and examples are further reading.

Source reference

Report overview and participatory futures material. Route discovered through Design Horizon; destination inspected 13 October 2026.

Continue at the source

Open Design Horizon for the wider collection and its current selection. This page doesn’t mirror its whole library or claim to have read every linked publication. Source authors retain their own wording, rights and responsibility.