Carra Santos
Designer, Applied Researcher & Learning Advisor

When the next step isn't clear or a project isn't unfolding as expected - particularly where different sectors, disciplines and perspectives meet - I work with teams to explore what's happening and spot what's sitting just outside their field of view.

I draw on design research, systems and futures thinking, behavioural insight, participatory methods, visual research and learning design to investigate what's shaping a project, introducing the right tools at the right time to understand what needs attention and determine what to do next.Sometimes that's research, sometimes it's a workshop, learning programme, framework, a change in mindset, coaching or new direction - the intervention depends on the diagnosis.

Independent research & frameworks

I develop independent research, methods and frameworks exploring questions around people, place and systems. These projects are an ongoing part of my thinking and practice.

Pre-Collaborative City

Research and writing exploring what needs to be understood before introducing global ideas, frameworks and ambitions into a place-based context.These insights are useful if you are a public sector research or engagement lead looking to translate broader ideas and ambitions into a collaborative local strategy.

Bridge to Belonging

An interdisciplinary research framework synthesising hyperlocal social, environmental and economic priorities to create guiding principles for a sustainable urban development.This framework is useful if you are a public sector, architectural or strategic design practitioner working on development in an area of urban inequality.

Civic Sketchbook

A creative ethnography method using walking, observation and photography to explore the character, continuity and lived experience of place.This method is useful if you are looking for a creative way to explore place identity and understand who and what is already there before developing effective solutions.

Consultancy projects

Alongside my independent research, I undertake selected consultancy projects where the questions, methods and ideas I explore can be helpful in particular situations.

Working across public, private, academic and social innovation contexts on very different projects - from climate strategy and public health to design education and social enterprise - I’m often looking for the same thing: what hasn't yet been seen, understood or connected.My experience includes the World Health Organization, Design Council, University of Bath, local authorities, architecture and design practices, social enterprises and community-led initiatives.Here are several examples:

University of Bath - Local Economic Development

Different starting points were making multi-stakeholder collaboration difficult.

Context

Interest in Doughnut Economics was growing across Bath, but early attempts to bring people together had revealed tensions between sectors and groups.

Diagnosis

Different stakeholders were approaching the framework from different starting points, bringing different knowledge, priorities and assumptions. Before meaningful collaboration could develop, people needed opportunities to understand the framework together and hear how others were interpreting it.

Intervention

Multi-format learning programme - a nine-week readalong, 24 bespoke workshops, a public lecture, an urban photo walk and an online community.

Outcome

The programme created sustained opportunities to learn, question and discuss the framework together, helping to build shared understanding and resolve tensions that had been making collaboration difficult.

Design Council / Essex County Council - Climate Communication

Young people's aspirations weren't part of the climate conversation.

Context

Essex County Council was developing a Youth Climate Ambassador Network, but early research suggested limited interest in climate action among students.

Diagnosis

Climate was naturally the priority of the council climate team, but not necessarily the priority of young people. The team needed to understand what mattered to young people and where their interests and aspirations connected with climate action.

Intervention

Participatory research and co-design - a visioning workshop designed to surface students' own priorities, explore their thoughts on climate action and translate the findings into themes for engagement.

Outcome

Ten student-led themes emerged, from Circular Communities to Future of Work, giving the council evidence-based priorities for youth climate engagement alongside a reusable workshop design.

Design Council / London Borough of Hounslow - Place-Based Climate Action

Local lived realities were missing from the proposed solution.

Context

Hounslow's Net Zero team entered Design Council's Design, differently programme with a proposal for a parklet intended to help create a 'climate-positive community'.

Diagnosis

The team had moved towards a solution without sufficient discovery research into the neighbourhood. The missing picture was the lived reality of the area and its residents, requiring the focus to shift from designing a solution to understanding the context first.

Intervention

Design research and course correction - developing a research plan, initiating field research through a Ward Walk, introducing a hyperlocal research framework, and supporting further desk, contextual and engagement research.

Outcome

Research revealed an underserved estate alongside issues around safety, isolation and lack of trust. The original parklet proposal was abandoned and the brief rewritten around a youth-centric community hub and council presence on the estate.

World Health Organization - Health Communication

Motivations beyond health were missing from the communication.

Context

As a specialist consultant to the WHO Tobacco-Free Initiative, I was asked to explore whether the Pictorial Health Warnings on Tobacco Products Database contained opportunities to broaden messaging to encourage tobacco cessation.

Diagnosis

The global dataset provided a large body of standardised health messaging, but offered limited insight into cultural meaning, human motivations and lived experience.

Intervention

Values-based data analysis and qualitative research - analysing, categorising and coding 595 warnings and captions from 37+ countries using Schwartz Theory of Basic Values, then combining the analysis with secondary research and four semi-structured interviews to develop composite personas.

Outcome

The research revealed opportunities to explore culture-specific cessation messaging alongside standardised global health communication, bringing local perspectives into a global policy environment. Findings were presented to WHO leadership and contributed to visual communication for the 10th WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic.

Redcliffe, Bristol - Sustainable Urban Development

The proposed development wasn't responding to the realities of the surrounding community.

Context

A brownfield site in central Bristol was the focus of a private developer proposing a block of executive apartments. Attempts to secure planning permission were repeatedly challenged by the community and refused by the local authority.

Diagnosis

The site was in Redcliffe, an area experiencing extreme urban deprivation and inequality, flanked on three sides by social housing in severe states of disrepair and close to areas affected by poverty and crime.

Intervention

Bridge to Belonging framework - gathering contextual evidence to understand environmental, social and economic needs at a hyperlocal level, then synthesising these with local, national and global policy agendas. The resulting evidence base enabled councils to communicate cross-cutting priorities to developers and identify ways for community-conscious solutions to be incorporated into the development.

Outcome

Six prioritised Guiding Principles, each supported by detailed rationale and examples of implementation, alongside an example proposal demonstrating how the principles could inform a problem-solving development on the site.

“Carra is a driven, intelligent and curious colleague - when working with us at the Design Council, she helped to deliver a complex project with a range of stakeholders. She pushed participants to think deeper about the work they were aiming to deliver, and ultimately created a more meaningful process. This, in turn, led to longer-lasting outcomes.“

— Emily Whyman, Senior Programme Manager, Design Council

“I would describe Carra as rigorously creative, in that she combines systems thinking and critical thinking with the spontaneity needed for new ideas. Not many people can do this. She questions everything and because she's also a terrific person, connects with people on many levels. It's an impressive combination of skills for change-making. Working with Carra definitely made me a better designer.”

— Darren Evans, Strategic Designer and Design Council Expert

“Carra brought insight, thoughtfulness, and a deep sense of curiosity to the work we did together at the WHO on tobacco control. She approaches complex challenges with care and intellectual rigor, always seeking to understand the deeper dynamics at play. At the same time, she brings real joy and warmth to a team - Carra made a lasting impact on the work and on me personally.“

— Dr Hebe Gouda, Project Officer, World Health Organization

Selected talks & publications

  • Research Contributor, 10th WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, WHO, 2025

  • “A Different Way”, online talk, RSA South West Coffeehouse, 2024

  • “Design, differently with Communities”, visioning script and presentation, Design for Planet, 2023

  • “Doughnut Economics: Can Bath Thrive like Amsterdam?”, live-streamed public lecture, Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution, 2023

  • Lead Author & Book Launch Presenter, “Crafting Connections with Clothing: Values, Influence and Relationships”, Chapter 17 in Accelerating Sustainability in Fashion, Clothing and Textiles, Routledge, 2023

  • Researcher, Author & Presenter, All Sewn Up: Dismantling Fast Fashion Consumption as a Social Practice, conference paper, Sustainable Innovation Conference, UCA Centre for Sustainable Design, 2021

Previous work

Independent innovation and design practice
2009-2021

Founded and led an innovation and design practice spanning interiors, furniture and spatial design, including circular furniture design, commercialisation and enterprise innovation; a 15-room forest property renovation connecting sustainable and regenerative materials, local ecology and skills; and three research-led London Design Festival installations exploring emerging technologies and the future of design and making.

About

Designer and applied researcher with extensive cross-sector experience spanning design, research, learning and social innovation.

I began my career in innovation and design, founding and leading an independent practice working across interiors, furniture and spatial design. The practice explored emerging technologies, new approaches to making and circular design through products, spaces and research-led installations. I became increasingly interested in understanding the evidence and wider systems behind the ideas I was developing, so I pursued an MSc in Sustainable Development in Practice, graduating with distinction in 2021.Since then, my work has increasingly focused on not only design, but understanding the relationships between people, places and systems that are necessary to inform, facilitate and shape it - and translating that understanding into strategies, learning, frameworks and practical interventions.

Contact

I work with design, innovation and multidisciplinary teams who want to open up new possibilities through a better understanding of context, people and place.

Email me or message me on LinkedIn, and I'll be in touch to arrange a call.

Carra is UK-based and works internationally.
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