POLI.design

Look at that bio-helmet!
A few days ago, students from our Specializing Master in Design for Sustainability & Regeneration presented their final projects for the Biomimicry–Biodesign course.
The course didn’t begin with briefs or materials. It began with observation: slowing down enough to actually look at how living systems work, and letting that change how you think as a designer.
For their final project, the brief was a helmet. Not to redesign it from scratch, but to use it as a vehicle: identifying specific biological strategies that could improve comfort and create better protective structures. Nature as a method, applied to something already familiar.
What came back were concepts grounded in how organisms absorb impact, manage airflow, distribute load; strategies refined over millions of years, translated into design propositions.
The result is a reflection on how protective objects can be reimagined through nature-inspired forms, material choices, and ecological thinking. A meaningful closing moment, highlighting how design can move beyond imitation and engage more deeply with the logic of living systems.

Visit our website to learn more about the next edition starting in November 2026!

Artificial Intelligence is already reshaping how services are designed and experienced.

From Spotify’s personalized playlists to McDonald’s adaptive menus, AI enables services to respond dynamically to contextual variables such as time, location, and user behavior.
As explored in Medium’s article “Service Design in the Age of AI” (by Matteo Mariani), this marks a shift from static journeys to systems that evolve in real time. Personalization is no longer optional—it is becoming the standard.
In this scenario, the Service Designer’s role is evolving. Designers are becoming multidisciplinary facilitators, connecting business, technology, and user needs while ensuring that AI-driven services remain human-centered, meaningful, and accessible. At the same time, they design the systems behind the solutions—defining frameworks, feedback loops, and ethical boundaries.
This transformation calls for new skills, including technical literacy, data sense-making, systems thinking, and ethical reasoning, with a growing focus on trust and adaptability.

Our Executive Course in Service Design for Systemic Change equips you with the tools to leverage AI both in the design process and as a core component of new service experiences—helping you address today’s social, economic, and environmental challenges.
If you’d like to learn more about the next edition starting in September 2026, visit our webpage.

A New Life for Plastic: Visit to SuperForma and Workshop of the Specializing Master in Design for Sustainability & Regeneration
Starting from the case study of MAIRE Group—a company committed to supporting the energy transition through the integration of technological innovation, engineering, and design—students were invited to explore and develop concepts for the reuse of plastic materials. In particular, they focused on a recycled polymer developed by NEXTCHEM, the Group company implementing sustainable technological solutions. The aim was to translate the principles of the circular economy into tangible design practices by engaging directly with real materials, production processes, and industrial partnerships.
As part of the Circular Economy module’s laboratory activities, students were guided by Mattia Ciurnelli, founder of SuperForma, a design studio specializing in digital fabrication, 3D printing, and the development of sustainable technologies. During the visit, participants worked on a real design brief and engaged hands-on in a professional context.
This experience offered a concrete demonstration of circular economy workflows—from waste repurposing to functional prototyping—highlighting how designers can embed closed-loop resource strategies into digital manufacturing processes to reduce environmental impact.
Workshops are a key milestone of the Specializing Master in Design for Sustainability & Regeneration. These practical experiences foster experimentation and the development of new ideas, bridging theory and real-world application.
If you would like to learn more about the program, visit our website.

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