Motives
Our team shares insights, observations, and learnings from the frontlines.
Ask a room full of people whether flood risk is rising and almost every hand goes up. Ask whether it's rising for their own home, and most of those hands quietly come down.
We’re proud to announce that Big Motive is now a Certified B Corporation. It’s an important milestone for us. But more importantly, it’s a commitment to how we want to build and grow Big Motive in the years ahead.
A few weeks ago I sat on a panel at Better by Design in Dublin; a conference full of people across government who take the design of public services seriously. It was held on the same day Ireland launched Design for Public Value, its new guidelines for designing better public services.
As digital products grow, design quality rarely collapses. It quietly decomposes. A designer ships a feature that works. Another team ships something adjacent and makes slightly different decisions about spacing, colour, typography, terminology. Nobody does anything wrong. But small, reasonable decisions compound. Six months later you have ten button styles and navigation that feels different depending on where you are. Design systems exist to stop that drift. The mistake is thinking they are just a component library. Components help reuse, but they do not scale decision-making. What scales is a shared set of rules for how we design and build, plus ownership that keeps those rules current. AI is starting to matter here too. AI is good at applying rules consistently, but only if the rules are explicit. If your standards are vague or trapped in people's heads, AI will copy the mess faster.
Last week at the Make It Right conference in Belfast, I shared a slightly unfashionable idea. In a moment where everyone is scrambling to implement (or define) a coherent AI strategy, the leaders I work with are feeling a different pressure underneath: "I'm not actually sure what we should be transforming into. I just know we can't stand still." The narrative is simple: AI is here. The world is accelerating. If you don't move fast, you'll be left behind. But in public services – and particularly in health – I see a different risk: not that we move too slowly, but that we move faster than our judgement. What leaders need most right now isn't another AI pilot. In my opinion, it's discernment.
From 28 June 2025, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) came into force – requiring new digital products and services across the EU to meet established accessibility standards. Even if your organisation isn't based in the EU, the law applies if you serve users who are. The EAA covers a wide range of sectors – from public services and healthcare to e-commerce, banking and digital platforms. But it's more than a legal deadline. It's a reminder that digital inclusion should be the rule, not the exception.
Extreme weather is no longer a distant threat—it's happening now. Across the UK, communities are feeling the devastating effects of flooding, and Scotland has been hit particularly hard. Last year, STV News reported that flood warnings reached their second-highest level in modern history, underscoring the urgency for action. With every storm, homes are destroyed, businesses are forced to close, and families are left facing the emotional and financial burden of recovery. And yet, despite the growing risk, many communities remain unprepared, either unaware of their flood risk or uncertain about the steps they can take to protect themselves. I've been working with Flood Re for some time, focusing on how we can help people understand and prepare for flooding. Most recently, this work brought me to Edinburgh for the launch of Flo the Flood Bus—a project designed to bring flood education and resilience resources directly to at-risk communities.
As the global conversation around climate and sustainability continues, the creative and digital industries are realising that our work is not only a vehicle to communicate the science, passion and calls-to-action of sustainability initiatives, but also that its execution can be more climate-conscious. User experience design, code development and even the visual elements of a brand identity can be crafted in sustainable ways. Yet there aren't currently many notable examples of climate-conscious brand identity designs – required for more-sustainable websites, apps and digital services. Which might suggest the industry requires significant shifts in mindset and process.
Sustainability is a word we hear all the time. It's on packaging, in corporate mission statements, and woven into countless conversations—but how often do we truly practice it? While I'm not a designer myself, during my time at Big Motive I've seen firsthand how sustainable thinking can shape the industry. Designers have an incredible opportunity—and perhaps a responsibility—to move beyond buzzwords and embrace sustainability in ways that genuinely make a difference. We know it's not always easy. Balancing business objectives, user expectations, and environmental impact can feel overwhelming, and sometimes sustainability might seem like an ideal just out of reach. But every small step counts. By embracing thoughtful, circular design practices, we can create products and services that stand the test of time—both functionally and environmentally.
