The UC San Diego Design Lab works on major societal issues, such as large-scale education, automation, healthcare, visualization of complex phenomena and data, social interactions, citizen science, and the ethical issues that are of ever-increasing importance. For the Design Lab, design is a way of thinking, addressing the core issues, always taking a systems point of view, emphasizing the role of people in the complex systems of the modern world. For us, people-centered design means four things: 1. Focusing on people 2. Taking a systems point of view, realizing that most complications result from the interdependencies of the multiple parts 3. Ensuring that we solve the core, root issues, not just the problem as presented to us (which is often the symptom, not the cause) 4. Continually testing and refining our proposals, ensuring they truly meet the needs of the people for whom they are intended