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Instructions for participating

Hello and welcome to your Virtual Design Coffee, thank you for taking part!

The current round runs until the end of March 2026.

Conversation theme for this round

How does Design stay resilient in a time of turbulence and change?

This theme may sound ironic. Design is the vehicle for change. We create, we make, we improve, we adjust… All Design activities carry change in themselves.

Yet increasingly we are seeing Design being shunned from the developments of the industry. Those who don’t want to stay passive witnesses to the conversations about us happening without us need to find ways and motivation to remain involved and proactive, front-footed.

So, how does the discipline, and the practitioners in it, stay resilient when everything around us is changing at a rapid speed? What are your tactics, mechanisms or strategy? What minor things do you do day to day to boost your resilience?

The theme can be a starting point to your conversation. You do not need to cover this and you will not be asked to report back on your conversation.

Key information for taking part

You and your partner for this round have been copied in the email you have received. These are the contact details for you to connect on
One of you needs to initiate the conversation, it doesn’t matter who. Use the email as a starting point to arrange a virtual coffee
You have until the end of March 2026 to have this coffee
If you’d like to skip the next round starting in April 2026, please let me know in reply to the email by the last week of March

Participation guidelines

We recommend that you aim for a 20-30 minute video chat, and it is usually a good idea to agree in advance on a couple of topics you’d like to cover. The subject(s) of your conversation do not have to be related to design, but sharing some of the things you’ve been working on or are interested in has often been a good starting point. Otherwise, feel free to use the suggested theme above.

You can use any video-conferencing platform of your choice. It is up to you and your partner whether you do cameras on or off, but consider that seeing each other may make for a more convivial atmosphere.

Troubleshooting

If you’ve been paired together before:

So sorry! We’ve been doing these since April 2020, so it’s almost impossible to avoid this sometimes
If you’d like a new pair, reply to the email and I’ll arrange that. If you’re happy to meet your partner for the second time, go ahead!

Struggling to receive my emails:

I suggest you add barbara.mertlova@gmail.com to your contact list. If this doesn’t help, please get in touch with me directly to resolve the issue

If you can’t reach your partner:

Please let me know and I will follow up
If you are no longer able to do the meet up yourself, please consider your partner and let them know. CC me in your cancellation of the meeting as I will offer alternative arrangements to your partner

Need to accommodate for your time zone:

Please get in touch with me if you are in a timezone that has made it difficult to organise those coffees. If I have a note of your time zone, I can try to rejig the random pairing a little where possible! 🙂

Withdraw or pause

If you want to skip a month, pause indefinitely, or completely withdraw, please let me know in an email. I appreciate your help with this as it avoids missed coffee opportunities for interested participants.

Frequency of coffee pair-ups

I have been revising and testing various timelines, to reflect the changing needs of the world and our work as Designers. We had started as a weekly project, then monthly, and now we pair up roughly every second month.

If you would like to be paired up sooner, feel free to email me. I will do my best to match you with an available partner.

Feedback

I appreciate all your feedback – please email me at barbara.mertlova@gmail.com with comments or questions. I hope you enjoy your coffee!

Barbara

Have you noticed anything that doesn’t work well?

I am keen to improve this website in any way that makes it easier to use for everyone. Please email your comments to barbara.mertlova@gmail.com