Designing Communities: What If UX Thinking Went Beyond Products?

# Designing Communities: What If UX Thinking Went Beyond Products?

Thursday, 27 August · Last Thursday Talk Zürich
What if we applied UX and design thinking not only to products and services, but to communities themselves?
For this Last Thursday Talk, Richard Blair will introduce Together by Design, a Zürich-based collective exploring how design methods and principles can help people create and strengthen communities.
Richard is an independent UX and Service Design specialist based in Zürich. He has led global UX, research, product and service design programmes for organisations including Sunrise, UBS, GSK and Accenture. He also lectures at HSGon culture, technology and design practice.
Together by Design started with a simple challenge: Could the tools we use to understand people, design experiences and solve complex problems also help us build better communities?
Since then, the collective has developed an open-source toolkit for community builders, established itself as a Verein, and continued experimenting with how design can support meaningful participation and connection.
During the talk, Richard will share:

• Why Together by Design was created
• How the collective got started
• How UX and design methods can be applied to community building
• What they have learned along the way
• Where the project is heading next

The talk will be followed by a Q&A and open discussion.
27 August 2026 · 18:30
ETH Zürich · Room TBA
Come along to explore what happens when we take design thinking beyond the product — and start designing for communities.

Practical information
• The event will be held in English.
• The number of participants is limited.
• Please arrive a few minutes early so we can start on time.