In our Postcards From series, we ask future-facing design thinkers to share a short message about what’s on their minds right now. This time around, we hear from Alice Grandoit, the co-founder of Room for Magic, a collaborative design studio that works to bridge brands and communities, and Deem Journal, a bi-annual print publication focused on design as a social practice. Read on for her insight into the often overlooked value of process—and the sense of wonder and possibility found in-the-making.

Dear Design,

I must confess, I love your process.

While popular conversations about design tend to focus on your varied outputs—artifacts, systems, structures—each one of these is unified by a process.

At Deem, this process contains the steps through which something transforms, with intention, from imagination to manifestation. It is there that we experience the extraordinary presence of possibility.

This new action frame has shaped our editorial focus around the stories we tell, prompting us to ask a very important question: What if design isn’t always about innovation or disruption, but rather about presence and feeling?

What kind of generative possibilities emerge from our daily lived experiences, natural curiosities, and wonder? And, what can we learn from these bodily sensations and insights that might assist us in continuing to collectively shape our world?

Best wishes,

Alice