Yesterday, I asked myself:
If I could meet my future self in 2031, what would he thank me for?
Not the usual ick: what title I accepted, what salary I negotiated, or how many LinkedIn applications I submitted.
What body of work would have been worth five years of my life?
If 2031 Van could give me advice today, he would say: “Stop searching for a role. Start building a named practice. Take the right long-term contract or smart short-term gigs, but don’t confuse the gig with the path.”
For most of my career, I’ve happily called myself a UX designer, service designer, strategist, illustrator, or consultant, depending on who was asking. All of those labels describe things I can do.
None of them describe the work I want to devote the next chapter of my life to. Designing systems that increase human agency.
The world really doesn’t need software deployed faster, it needs better ways for people to understand who they are, what choices they have, and how to move forward with clarity.
In the above presentation, Pageau rejects technological escapism (like going to Mars or merging with machines) as a solution (15:33-16:03). Instead, he advocates for a return to virtue, community, and the humanities, urging listeners to foster their own memory, skill, and wisdom to remain “fully human” amidst the technological upheaval.
The more I work with Artificial Intelligence, the more convinced I am that AI itself isn’t the destination. It is, as Josh Clark puts it in Sentient Design, a new material—like papyrus, pigment, steel, or code.
“Two thousand years ago, the big tech revolution was … wait for it … concrete. The stuff wasn’t strictly new (early forms date back at least 6,000 years), but Roman engineers turned it into something extraordinary with a few changes to the recipe. They created concrete that hardened underwater, grew stronger over time, and enabled the impossible: massive domes, aqueducts, permanent harbors … structures that still stand today.”
Excerpt From Sentient Design by Josh Clark
Used poorly, AI, our “new concrete”, adds a layer of surveillance and automated confusion. Used well, it can reveal patterns hidden inside overwhelming complexity.
The real opportunity is integrating AI into humane service systems that help people navigate education, care, workforce pathways, community support, and the demands of modern work.
And not only for nonprofits. This work also belongs inside the corporate systems driving the economy, the tools, and the cultural change. Yes, y’all too.
I call this Human Agency Design. It is a practice where design, art, and AI work together to make complex institutional systems navigable.
It combines:
- Service Design: Mapping broken journeys, institutional failure points, and policy gaps.
- Artificial Intelligence: Building decision-support tools, data synthesis systems, and practical simulations.
- Visual Art & Illustration: Making invisible systems visible through diagrams, visual essays, and narrative artifacts.
- Strategy & Governance: Helping leadership move from ambition to execution while keeping systems accountable and safe.
This is the framework for helping organizations see more clearly, make better decisions, and connect human needs with system realities.
The Audience: People Navigating Complex Problems
The work that interests me most lives where people struggle to make sense of increasingly complex systems.
Sometimes that’s someone experiencing a mental health crisis. Sometimes it’s a student trying to find opportunity. Sometimes it’s a family navigating healthcare, government services, financial hardship, or misinformation. Sometimes it’s simply someone overwhelmed by the pace of modern life: too many messages, too little self-care, or a conversation where they need better tools to feel heard. These are human problems.
Too often, our digital tools optimize for efficiency, engagement, or scale while overlooking clarity, trust, and human agency.
I want to spend the next several years exploring a simple question:
How can thoughtful design and responsible AI help people make better decisions, understand complex issues, and feel more capable of acting in the world?
That question is broad enough to include mental health, social justice, education, civic participation, accessibility, environmental challenges, and other issues that shape how people experience society.
The Vehicle: AI Design Experiments
Rather than waiting for one perfect product, I’m building a public collection of small digital experiments.
Through AI Design, I’ll publish practical concepts, prototypes, visual essays, and lightweight tools that explore how AI can support people—not replace them.
Some projects may help people better understand their own mental well-being. Others may visualize complex social issues, simplify difficult decisions, improve access to information, or encourage healthier conversations. Some will become useful products. Others will simply be ideas worth testing.
Each experiment is an opportunity to ask:
- Does this help people think more clearly?
- Does it increase agency rather than dependence?
- Does it create understanding instead of confusion?
- Does it use AI in a way that deserves trust?
Not every idea needs to become a company. Sometimes a small tool can demonstrate a better way of designing technology.
I’m less interested in building the next viral app than in building examples of what humane technology can look like.
Coherence Over Certainty
The trap of a creative career is trying to define yourself in a way that keeps every option open.
But meaningful work requires choosing a direction.
If 2031 Van looks back on this moment, I hope he remembers it as the year I stopped waiting for permission and started building a public body of work around a simple belief:
Technology should leave people more informed, more confident, and more capable than it found them.
Every experiment I publish is a step toward that goal.