Presentation: Design for Collective Post-Trauma

As we look to brands and companies more than our own governments, how do they navigate not just our changing values and demands, but our trauma?

Fear can be overwhelming, but it has a purpose. Fear is a powerful human emotion and physical response. When we feel the fear creeping in, we’re perceiving a threat that’s cracked our sense of safety. Evolutionarily speaking, it’s what’s kept the human species alive and thriving. The physiological effects on our bodies are largely the same, but the emotional response is highly individual. When we’re taken by fear and confronted with what to do next, we weigh the risks and make decisions based on self-interest. But when we can’t fully understand the risks, our fears can lead to irrational thought and action. 

Amid gobal crises—in this moment, the COVID-19 pandemic and killing of George Floyd—there’s yet another layer of fear to unpack. We’re all paying attention, and we’re on high alert. Suddenly, our society’s collective ego shifts. In a frenzy of observations, interests and instincts, our shared state of consciousness has become one of unrest. And as we face a global recession, this begs the question: How will companies, corporations, governments and even individuals navigate the collective trauma that comes after?

In this talk, Alain Sylvain, Founder & CEO of Sylvain Labs, will explore the science of fear on the human psyche and the power of the collective ego, and what happens when society's state of mind overtakes individual experiences. He’ll argue that the collective trauma the COVID crisis and the killing of George Floyd have left behind will be the most powerful determinant of our ability to get back to work. And finally, drawing from science, psychology, historical and cultural examples, Alain will identify the ways in which brands, businesses and people alike can begin to navigate our collective trauma, and changing sense of self and of each other, as we begin to heal.