Design thinking: Building better communities

When Bill Grant took an unknown exit off the highway, he was just looking to cut his commute — but today he’s both a working designer who is president and chief creative officer of Grant Design Collaborative and the mayor of the town at the end of that highway exit, Canton, Georgia. Grant’s path, like that of many creatives, has been a winding and audacious one and has yielded unique insights that point to a pathway for designers to have greater impact on our shared future.

Perpetual learning is essential

Bill didn’t start with a design degree. Instead, he leaned into his ability as a writer and learned design along the way. Eventually, that skill-acquiring and building approach brought him to a leadership role in the design world, as past national president of AIGA. His practice blossomed as well, executing branding work for major corporations; approaching each project as a holistic exploration of the client’s brand ecosystem allowed him to use each project as a learning experience for himself and his team. “Clients ask us, ‘Have you done this before?’ I say ‘No, and that’s why you should hire us. We haven’t done it before, so we’ll ask better questions’”

Talent is where you find it

Dalton, Ga., where Bill grew up and started his career in the carpet industry, might seem like an unusual place to find world-class design talent. But his own small-town beginnings taught him, he says, that “talent has no zip code.” As the leader of a design studio, he still applies that thinking. Basing his business in Canton, Ga., in between the major market of Atlanta and the carpet industry in Dalton, allows him to draw on a talent pool and a client pool that is larger than either market. “I believe in surrounding myself with people who are smarter than I am, more talented than I am, and letting the teamwork,” he says, “assembling a great team.”

Design thinking brings perspective to the world beyond design

City government was never a part of Bill’s career plan. But when a zoning issue threatened the historic downtown residential district where he lives, he found himself running for city council, and then for mayor. He quickly discovered an advantage when it came to solving city issues: “As designers, we are able to visualize things, and I think that’s kind of what’s missing in government, those people are typically not visual people.”

The problem-solving skills innate to designers can pave the way for greater acceptance of change in the physical environment of the towns and neighborhoods where we live. “People hear change and they get freaked out,” Bill says, “but when they can actually see what can happen and feel how it impacts their lives, they are ok with it.” Over time, his ability to envision Canton’s future allowed Bill to implement a multi-year plan for success and transformation, including revitalizing a once-dying downtown and bringing housing that is not only affordable, it is well-designed and desirable for both residents and the community. Today, he says, “Canton is my biggest design project.”

His experiences in local government, he says, have convinced him that design thinking can have its greatest impact at the local level, where involvement shapes the world that most of us live in and the problems that most directly affect daily lives. “I’m an example of what can happen when design thinking is involved in local government,” he says. “That’s why we need more designers in local government — we think differently.”