Cat Drew
What I’m Currently Doing - I’m the Chief Design Officer at the Design Council, where I bring together our practice around architecture & built environment, public service design, social & business innovation, create design-led programmes that have an impact, and tell that story to influence and inspire more use of design. I co-present BBC Radio 4’s The Fix, which uses design to tackle tricky social challenges. I try to continue exploring and practicing art, with recent exhibitions and collaborations including DW.ELL.ING and Future of the Forest.
Previously - I started off far away from design, as a civil servant who was frustrated with being far away from the people I was supposed to be empowering through the strategies and speeches I was writing. That led me on a journey to design via Berlin and making art, a graphic design MA, being a co-founder of the UK Government’s Policy Lab and holding leadership positions at Uscreates and FutureGov. Along the way I got quite involved in data ethics, creating the first data ethics framework for Government, and doing a TedX on data x design.
What Interests & Excites Me
Participatory design
Data visualisation
Speculative design
Regeneration & placeshaping