Learning before action

I help people and organisations when a broader idea, ambition or intervention needs to work in a particular context, but the starting point isn’t yet clear.

When the next step isn't obvious, or something isn't working as expected, I don't assume we already know why or what the answer should be. I help you pause, identify what's missing or misunderstood, find useful research and resources, introduce tools and different ways of thinking, and develop a plan for what to explore or do next.I'm particularly interested in what happens when global or national ambitions meet local realities, and what needs to be understood before an idea, message or intervention can land.Depending on the situation, this might involve research, contextual analysis, visual research, bringing different perspectives together, developing new angles of approach, or identifying where to start.I work one-to-one with leaders and small leadership teams, as well as through research and learning projects, across design, public health, climate, place and social innovation. My work includes the World Health Organization, Design Council, University of Bath, local authorities, architecture and design practices, social enterprises, and community-led initiatives.

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Example questions

My work focuses on understanding what we need to know before deciding what to do.I draw on research, observation, creative methods, systems thinking and learning to explore complex questions from different angles and identify what might be worth paying attention to next.Here are some of the questions that inform my work.

"Why are our ideas and messages not landing?"

Before assuming we need a better message, it can be useful to understand how the people we're trying to reach see the issue themselves, and what might make a message meaningful to them.

Example: Design Council / Essex County Council - Climate Action

Essex County Council was developing a Youth Climate Ambassador Network, but early research suggested climate action was not a strong priority for many students. Rather than starting with climate messaging, I supported council officers to work with 15–18-year-olds and their teachers to explore what a positive future for Essex meant to them.

Through futures exercises, storytelling and systems thinking, we developed ten themes for climate action, five of which were prioritised by the group. The work shifted the starting point from “How do we get young people interested in climate?” to “What matters to young people, and where does climate action fit within that?”

"Why aren't people using what we've put in place?"

When a behaviour change initiative isn't being used, the issue may not be the intervention itself. It may be that we're asking people to act without understanding the wider conditions shaping what is possible, practical or meaningful for them.

Example: Design Council / London Borough of Hounslow - Climate Action

Hounslow's Net Zero team wanted to build community participation around climate change in one of the borough's most deprived neighbourhoods. An early idea was a parklet focused on air quality, transport and access to green space.

I supported the team to stress-test the idea through design and systems thinking, including a ward walk to understand local assets, barriers and everyday routines. This highlighted factors including underused existing green space, low incomes, extensive working hours and high levels of crime.

The work shifted the focus away from a predetermined intervention towards building the conditions for community participation first.

"What are we not seeing?"

Sometimes the most useful question isn't how to improve the established approach, but what it might be overlooking. Looking at a problem through a different lens can reveal possibilities that are difficult to see from within the usual frame.

Example: World Health Organization - Public Health

WHO programme leaders asked me to explore whether anything might be missing from existing graphic health warnings on cigarette packaging, following concerns about audiences becoming desensitised to established health-impact messaging.

I introduced a behavioural lens - Schwartz's Theory of Basic Human Values - and analysed 574 graphic health warnings from more than 37 countries to identify opportunities for more culturally relevant tobacco-control communication.

The research generated new questions for country-level practitioners to explore, with findins published in the 10th WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic (page 19).

"Why is there so much tension in the room?"

Getting people in the same room doesn't automatically mean they're on the same page. People from different sectors and backgrounds may arrive with different priorities, language, assumptions and ideas about what needs to happen and how, making collaboration difficult before the work has properly begun.

Example: University of Bath & Bath & North East Somerset Council - Economic Development

The Living Well Now and in 2050 project explored the potential adoption of Doughnut Economics as a regional economic development strategy. People came to the framework with different levels of knowledge, professional interests and perspectives, and engagement remained largely siloed.

I developed a nine-week readalong, 24 workshops, a public lecture and an urban photo walk to build the shared understanding needed for more productive participation.

The work identified practical conditions that supported cross-sector dialogue locally: informal and preparatory spaces, creative framing, sustained relationship-building, and ways of connecting evidence, lived experience and policy goals.

"What does all this mean for us?"

Ideas such as sustainability or regeneration can sound straightforward at a high level, but become much less so when we try to apply them to a particular profession, organisation or project. The next step is often in exploring what the idea actually means in a particular context.

Example: Lumsden Design - Enterprise Innovation

Lumsden Design was facing growing expectations from clients and its team to engage more confidently with social and environmental impact, but had mostly encountered sustainability through a reductive “eco” lens that limited understanding.

I mapped the team's existing knowledge and experience and built a shared foundation around the global definition of sustainable development. We then explored what was already present in the practice, what was missing and where new opportunities might lie.

The team recognised that sustainability was much closer to their existing strengths and interests than they had expected. What had initially felt like a constraint became an untapped creative opportunity, with specific areas to research and develop.

Explore a question

One-to-one thinking time for leaders and small leadership teams.

I work one-to-one with leaders and small leadership teams as a strategic thinking partner, helping them think through difficult questions, challenge assumptions and work out what to pay attention to next.Sessions might involve:

understanding a particular problem or context
making sense of research, evidence or a conversation
exploring a different angle
preparing for a conversation or collaboration
developing a learning approach
working out where to start

You can book a block of one-to-one conversations for a leader or small leadership team, who can then use the sessions individually over several months, depending on what they need to work through. The time is then there to use when a question arises, rather than committing to a long-term retainer or a defined project.If a different way of working is required, or a need for further work emerges through conversations, we can discuss what that might look like.

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What people say

“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

Talks, writing & research

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
MSc Dissertation (Distinction), "Communicating Degrowth: Analysing language to find favourable starting points for degrowth discourse with UK business leaders", University of the West of England, 2021
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

Alongside commissioned work, I develop my own research through writing, creative research and learning projects. These explore how we understand places, situations and different perspectives before deciding what to do.Civic Sketchbook is my creative research practice for developing this way of looking: noticing and understanding places through walking, observation, photography and creative ethnography.It explores how looking more closely can reveal local narratives, interests and possibilities that might otherwise be overlooked.Bridge to Belonging is my research framework for identifying connections between local social, environmental and economic priorities at the neighbourhood scale.It is particularly relevant to public sector, architecture and design professionals working on projects in areas of urban inequality.Pre-Collaborative City is a learning series exploring what needs to happen before different perspectives are brought together, particularly when broader ideas and ambitions need to be translated into local strategies.

Creative learning environments

Earlier in my career, I worked through commissioned design projects exploring how physical products, spaces and experiences could challenge assumptions and make new ideas tangible.The projects below were commissioned by 100% Design for London Design Festival between 2013 and 2015. They reflect an approach that still runs through my work today: using design to explore questions, test possibilities and help people see things differently.

What might the future kitchen feel like if food growing, cooking and living were treated as connected activities?A 180m² immersive design installation exploring urban food growing, smaller homes and changing relationships with food. Challenging the trend towards the future kitchen as a technology-led laboratory, the project brought planting, cooking, social space and sensory experience together.

What happens when making is understood as a human activity rather than an increasingly technological process?An 81m² immersive design installation exploring the changing relationship between designers, makers and technology. Bringing together craft, digital fabrication, open-source practice and experimentation, it created opportunities for a wide range of visitors to connect, imagine, make and share.

How might we change our practices if we remember the materials we use for the built environment come from the natural world?A 128m² immersive design installation exploring materials, making and our working relationship with nature. The environment combined emerging products and processes with activities involving natural dyes and juices from the same raw materials, making connections between the built and natural world visible and tangible.

“A huge boost to the quality of design thinking. Carra's approach to every project is in-depth, practical and passionate; working with her is always a very pleasurable experience and her ability to make things happen both creatively and practically is invaluable.”

— William Knight, Director, Material Matters, formerly 100% Design London

About

I began my career in innovation and design, founding and leading an independent practice working across interior, furniture and spatial design.Alongside client projects, I explored emerging technologies, circular design and new approaches through products, spaces and research-led installations.Over time, I became increasingly interested in the evidence and wider systems behind the ideas I was developing. This led me to an MSc in Sustainable Development in Practice, which I completed with distinction in 2021, strengthening the research and analytical side of my practice.Today, I bring these strands together through research, design and learning work that helps people examine complex social and environmental questions from different perspectives, and work out what those questions mean in their particular context.I'm particularly interested in the space between an ambition and an action: what needs to be understood, questioned or explored before we can work out what to do next.

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Pre-Collaborative City

What needs to be considered before we ask people to work together?

Place-based collaborations often begin by bringing people together around a shared ambition. But people arrive with different experiences, knowledge, priorities, language and assumptions about the situation they are trying to change.Recognising these differences - and considering what might be missing from our own view - can create better conditions for people to develop shared understanding together.

Some of the most important work may happen before everyone gets in the room.

I've been developing Pre-Collaborative City - a body of insights, methods and practical tools exploring what needs to be considered before introducing broader ideas, frameworks and ambitions into a local context, and before asking different sectors, disciplines and perspectives to work together.The thinking currently explores six areas:

01 / Arriving with a question, not a solution
Exploring why collaborative change begins with considering context, recognising different forms of knowledge and being willing to ask: “What might we be missing?”02 / Developing shared language and definitions
Exploring how words carry different meanings, why assumptions create misunderstanding, and how shared language creates the foundation for collaboration.03 / Finding better entry points into conversations
Exploring how to begin conversations from what already matters to people, rather than only from what matters most to us.

04 / Recognising the meanings already in place
Learning to notice the stories, identities, histories and relationships that already exist within places and communities before attempting to change them.05 / Seeing what makes change possible
Exploring how behaviours emerge from wider systems, and how change becomes possible by understanding the conditions around them, rather than relying on good intentions alone.06 / Learning to see before you start
Practical activities to help develop curiosity, observation and contextual understanding before considering how to engage.

I'm looking to connect with people working in this territory.

If you design, lead or support collaborative responses to complex place-based social and environmental challenges, I'd love to hear from you.I'm particularly interested in connecting with people who recognise the value of doing more of the thinking before getting everyone in the room - whether you're working in local government, research, design, academia, community development or elsewhere.I'm offering 30-minute knowledge-sharing conversations as a way to exchange experiences and perspectives.I'll also be sharing emerging tools, reflections and resources from the project as it develops.Email me or use the form, and I'll get back to you shortly.