From Embedded Design to Sustainable Transformation
For Camilla Uhlén, who graduated from the Master's Programme in Embedded Design at HDK-Valand in 2025, design is about more than creating products and services. Today, she works as a process facilitator and design strategist, helping cities and organisations transition towards a more sustainable future. Here, she shares her experiences of the programme, her professional life and how design can contribute to change.
What does Embedded Design mean to you?
– To me, Embedded Design is about designing processes and methods that contribute to sustainable development, particularly within and in collaboration with organisations. The field shares similarities with organisational development and process facilitation, but places additional emphasis on creating and developing methods that can serve as valuable tools in processes of change. These methods and tools can take many different forms and be explored through practical application in various contexts – hence the word design.
What is the most important lesson from the programme that you have taken into your professional life?
– Seeing design as a large toolbox that everyone has access to, where even simple approaches can make a big difference in creating value and contributing to development.
What do you do today, and how do you use design in your work?
– Today, I work as a process facilitator and design strategist at Friends of Gothenburg (FOG), where we develop processes and methods to help cities and organisations with sustainable transformation. Our approach is very similar to the ways of working explored in Embedded Design, so I make great use of everything I learned during the programme.
Why should someone apply to Embedded Design?
– The combination of taking a holistic approach to what sustainable development can mean and exploring innovative approaches to change allows you to learn how to navigate a complex world while also contributing to shaping it in a more sustainable direction. Developing an understanding of this complexity, both theoretically and practically, is something I consider valuable knowledge for life, regardless of the career path you choose afterwards.
