Why did we build a website about Sun Life Design?

We wanted to take a more purposeful approach to building a culture for design at Sun Life. We knew we had work to do and lots of opportunity and paths to explore. This website is just one of the many steps we are taking to make Sun Life a place where our designers can thrive.

Our goal is to weave experience design into how we work as a global enterprise, putting our users at the centre of everything we do and staying optimistic in the process. Although we still have a long road ahead to reach our design goals, we have a lot on the go and lots to talk about. By creating this platform, we hope to encourage dialogue and connection.

So, what can you expect to see here? For starters, a view into how we work and what we stand for. You'll also find:

• Event announcements
• Thought leadership
• Job information
• Info on how to connect with us

Eventually we'd like to round it out with even richer content like case studies, employee profiles and more!

I want to thank every designer, researcher, writer, and DesignOps person who contributed to the launch of this website and for being on this path. Your work is essential, and we appreciate it.

The journey so far

I joined Sun Life in 2020, at the very beginning of pandemic. I didn't know what I was stepping into. I accepted a role as Global Enterprise Design Coach with a specific mandate to build a design coaching practice. Almost three years later, with the help of many other leaders and practitioners across the globe, we've started a movement. We're changing the way we accept and embrace design as a strategic lever for the company.

Many companies want the “customer-centric” prize. It's an elusive one though. As designers, we know that the pursuit of customer-centricity is an ongoing process. We ask ourselves, what does it mean to be truly customer-centric? How can we fulfill that promise to our users and ourselves as a business? These are questions we grapple with daily. I was also personally grappling with this while thinking about making Sun Life a better place to work for designers. Fortunately, I've found many other like-minded people who had similar ideas. We all want to use design to make a bigger impact.

Like many other pursuits, we can't look at this as a destination. There is no bus stop or train station with a sign that says, “You've arrived.” So basically, we're never done. Wait, what? I can't get off this bus?

[Spoiler alert, or the most obvious sentence in this article] The world is constantly changing. Technology is constantly evolving and disrupting. The pandemic taught us that human behavior can change dramatically in a short amount of time. As designers, researchers and generally, as problem-solvers, the problems keep changing — so we need to keep adapting.

At the end of my day, I'm incredibly grateful for the group of people I get to work with at Sun Life. They're all on this bus with me. We're not perfect, no human or organization is. But we are scrappy, optimistic, thoughtful, and persistent. These characteristics have given us the chance to do some great things as a community. We get to test some ideas. Make some mistakes. Be open but critical. Curious but practical. And most of all, resilient.

We have a lot of work to do. And we have the right ingredients to do the work. That's a statement I am very fortunate to be able to make.

I'm here for design. How about you?