Anchit Som

Born and raised in Delhi, India. I find Design to be a way of exploring a common yet diverse humanity. Solving user problems, creating systems, processes and experiences is a meaning-making activity, both for myself and the stakeholders of my practice.

I have worked as a Product Manager and Design Researcher at various companies in India & Hong Kong. My projects include - designing safety systems for manufacturing factories, researching digital literacy in urban villages, and creating solutions for food waste in multi-person households.

Having completed an undergraduate degree in Computer Science and Business Design Innovation at the University of Hong Kong, I work at the intersection of business, design, and engineering to create more than human-centered solutions for the most pressing issues our populations face.

Accomplishments

Featured in the Harvard Business Review

Received the Jury Prize by MIT Innovation HK

Finalist of the Terra Carta Design Lab

Distinction for paper on Service Design in the 4th dimension

Design has come a long way from its inception in industrial design, we live in a post-industrialised society where design isn’t about making chairs anymore. It’s a political act of shaping reality and given the impending ecological crisis we find ourselves in, it matters whose reality we shape and what realities we create. 

In my time at the RCA, I found myself drawn to the promises of Net Zero and what it means for whole societies, economies and cultures to transition into a low carbon future. 

While there is a certain rebellion that the crisis evokes, I have constantly tried to infuse pragmatism into my practice as complex systems need diplomacy and tact to deliver tangible results. The three projects you see here explore major sources of greenhouse gas emissions- residential, industrial and supply chains. 

While you can see designed artefacts like graphical interfaces, sensor boxes and guidebooks in these projects, they are not the endpoints of my design practice. I find human relationships & cultures as the real materials with which we can create systems that manifest design intent. 

This intent initially was to reinvent the wheel and rebel against every injustice I see, to change the world so to speak. However, over the two years, I have come to recognise this approach as patronising and ignorant of the complex reality we live in. 

Hence, I aim to only facilitate new ways of being, not dictate them. I aim to respect the choice, value judgements and dignity of humans that will eventually use and evolve the design to their needs.