Dear Readers,

As we step off the COVID-19 lockdown, we feel a surreal sense of entering the world after being incubated for 40+ days. We are reborn. For these forty days and more, the forced lockdown has instilled in us new fears, new anxieties and yes, new passions. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

 With the imposition of various rules and regulations, the fear of sickness and even death, and tall orders of social security linked to distancing brings us to the end of the world as we knew it. But then, creativity blossoms with constraints. In this newsletter we bring you three articles that talk about the next steps forward and how design can help to navigate the tricky way ahead.  

This newsletter Viva la Vida! after a Coldplay song - meaning Long Live Life – is our first burst of speech on the edge of the new world. Our first article Lead with People, Business will Follow by Nishita Karun talks about leadership qualities in the COVID era - what’s required of company heads and how to take your people along as you cover uncharted territory. In Speaking out, Stepping Up Sujatha Shankar Kumar writes about our bold new identity for the Population Foundation of India, launched just before lockdown for their 50th anniversary. Step on the Ignition, The Highway is Open expands on Lopez Design’s ‘four buckets’, strategies for businesses in this new era — Purpose-led Action, Humanistic Digital Spaces, New beginnings and Stay Relevant.

As one scientist noted recently - people are smart. If they understand the new norms are for their safety, they will follow them. Often, much of life is as simple as communicating the right thing to do with care and sensitivity. Let’s not underestimate humanity and let’s not underestimate what creativity can do.  

Stay safe, trust each other, help one another. 

Anthony Lopez

Editor: Sujatha Shankar Kumar
Illustration: Nicholas Pegu