Emma Carter – författare

"Carter’s new book, DesignedUp, is a useful guide for the modern design practitioner who sits at the intersection of the IT consultancy and agency world — someone who chooses to plot their own course across many companies’ diverse set of interests instead of being loyal to just one. In doing so, they have selected an exciting path that will bring them many heralded victories and challenging pitfalls, which Carter has aptly navigated over her impressive career. If you have been in the field for a while, I think you will find Carter’s book to be a refreshing antidote to any career doldrums you may have."— Dr. John Maeda, VP of Design and Artificial Intelligence, Microsoft

"Designers have long asked for a ‘seat at the table.’ What Emma Carter has done is given them the roadmap to not only get that seat, but to redesign the table to fit what tech-driven organisations need to succeed today."— Jeff Gotthelf, Author "Lean UX" and "Sense & Respond"

Are you struggling to get non-designers to understand the value of what you do?

Tech companies and consultancies can feel like an inhospitable landscape for designers. Too often, design is seen as a ‘nice extra’, rather than an integral part of the process, and designers find their voice overshadowed by decision-makers who don’t understand or appreciate the power of design.

DesignedUp will help you eliminate obstacles and become a design leader who can effectively influence everyone from engineers to C-level execs. By sharing perspectives, methods, frameworks and hero stories from global Tech & Design leaders, including Rebecca Parsons, CTO at Thoughtworks; Andreas Markdalen, Global Chief Creative Officer at frog; Lauren Pleydell-Pearce, Executive Creative Director at PwC UK, Dr. Andy Polaine, Ex-global Group Design Director at Fjord, the book shows you how to:

"Carter’s new book, DesignedUp, is a useful guide for the modern design practitioner who sits at the intersection of the IT consultancy and agency world — someone who chooses to plot their own course across many companies’ diverse set of interests instead of being loyal to just one. In doing so, they have selected an exciting path that will bring them many heralded victories and challenging pitfalls, which Carter has aptly navigated over her impressive career. If you have been in the field for a while, I think you will find Carter’s book to be a refreshing antidote to any career doldrums you may have."— Dr. John Maeda, VP of Design and Artificial Intelligence, Microsoft

"Designers have long asked for a ‘seat at the table.’ What Emma Carter has done is given them the roadmap to not only get that seat, but to redesign the table to fit what tech-driven organisations need to succeed today."— Jeff Gotthelf, Author "Lean UX" and "Sense & Respond"

Are you struggling to get non-designers to understand the value of what you do?

Tech companies and consultancies can feel like an inhospitable landscape for designers. Too often, design is seen as a ‘nice extra’, rather than an integral part of the process, and designers find their voice overshadowed by decision-makers who don’t understand or appreciate the power of design.

DesignedUp will help you eliminate obstacles and become a design leader who can effectively influence everyone from engineers to C-level execs. By sharing perspectives, methods, frameworks and hero stories from global Tech & Design leaders, including Rebecca Parsons, CTO at Thoughtworks; Andreas Markdalen, Global Chief Creative Officer at frog; Lauren Pleydell-Pearce, Executive Creative Director at PwC UK, Dr. Andy Polaine, Ex-global Group Design Director at Fjord, the book shows you how to:

“Emma Carter reveals how organizations can shift from tech-centric to design-led, creating meaningful experiences. Through case studies and practical frameworks, she demonstrates how scaling design isn’t about adding more designers but transforming how organizations think and operate. This essential guide helps leaders embed design thinking at every level, turning transformation into a continuous evolution.

In Shaping a DesignedUp Organisation Emma Carter distills the essence of digital transformation: true progress lies in simplifying through design thinking, not adding complexity. Like a conductor harmonizing an orchestra, she shows how tech and design can work together to serve human needs. More than a book on shaping and scaling design, this is a vision for a more powerful, humane digital future—essential for those bridging technology and human experience.”—John Maeda, VP Engineering, Head of Computational Design / AI Platform, Microsoft

The learnings gained from Shaping a DesignedUp Organisation will not only give design leaders a seat at the table, it’ll make them the smartest person at the table - creating influence, driving conversations for growth, and ultimately shaping their company into a ‘design mature’ organisation.

But that’s not to say this book is strictly for design leaders. Tech leaders, product leaders and business leaders will come to see how business performance and design are intrinsically linked. You’ll gain intimate insights from leaders at world-leading organisations like Spotify, Disney, Airbnb, Monzo and frog and learn about a variety of frameworks and practical approaches to help your organisation reach design maturity with a human focus.

And if you’re in an organisation not convinced by the value of design, you’ll learn how to translate the benefits of embedding design at every touchpoint in a way that’s meaningful, valuable and profitable to various stakeholders, creating an army of design advocates to future proof your organisation…and decrease its risk of becoming a dinosaur.

“Emma Carter reveals how organizations can shift from tech-centric to design-led, creating meaningful experiences. Through case studies and practical frameworks, she demonstrates how scaling design isn’t about adding more designers but transforming how organizations think and operate. This essential guide helps leaders embed design thinking at every level, turning transformation into a continuous evolution.

In Shaping a DesignedUp Organisation Emma Carter distills the essence of digital transformation: true progress lies in simplifying through design thinking, not adding complexity. Like a conductor harmonizing an orchestra, she shows how tech and design can work together to serve human needs. More than a book on shaping and scaling design, this is a vision for a more powerful, humane digital future—essential for those bridging technology and human experience.”—John Maeda, VP Engineering, Head of Computational Design / AI Platform, Microsoft

The learnings gained from Shaping a DesignedUp Organisation will not only give design leaders a seat at the table, it’ll make them the smartest person at the table - creating influence, driving conversations for growth, and ultimately shaping their company into a ‘design mature’ organisation.

But that’s not to say this book is strictly for design leaders. Tech leaders, product leaders and business leaders will come to see how business performance and design are intrinsically linked. You’ll gain intimate insights from leaders at world-leading organisations like Spotify, Disney, Airbnb, Monzo and frog and learn about a variety of frameworks and practical approaches to help your organisation reach design maturity with a human focus.

And if you’re in an organisation not convinced by the value of design, you’ll learn how to translate the benefits of embedding design at every touchpoint in a way that’s meaningful, valuable and profitable to various stakeholders, creating an army of design advocates to future proof your organisation…and decrease its risk of becoming a dinosaur.