Last Thursday saw the beginning of the next semester in our agency education programme, W+KED.

From now until the end of July, we will be using the W+KED programme to explore the question: will technology save us?

As we are all aware, we live in an age of extraordinary change, in which the futures opening up before us are uncertain and potentially volatile. We hope to explore how creativity coupled with new technologies could help us to engage in the transformation of society for the better, and explore what might happen if the opposite happens.

The world and everything in it is constantly being radically remodelled by technology. There are those who are threatened by this apparent sub-summation of humanity by technology. Globally, we are running out of resources, which raises questions as to the role design plays in our future, and we are closer together – yet further apart – than we have ever been as a global community.

We are inviting important thinkers to W+K to help us understand what is happening and hopefully to push the debate further.

To kick start this, we had the amazing Ben Hammersley come and speak to us last week to try and tackle the question of ‘will technology save us?’. Ben is an Applied Futurist, who broadcasts, writes and lectures internationally to explain the effects of the post-digital post-internet age on people, corporations, governments and international organisations, and is the author of many books and articles on modern technology.

The talk was exciting and terrifying in equal measure, and at one point we were all questioning when a bee actually stops being a bee… if its brain has been cloned and is being used to fly a drone, it thinks it’s a bee after all, right? Amazing (and scary) stuff.

We were all devastated to learn of the recent earthquakes in Nepal, but we're pleased to hear that a few members of our Portland family have come up with a fantastic way to put their creativity to use and help people donate to relief efforts.

You can do your part to support by purchasing some beautifully designed posters from a dedicated site. All proceeds will go to Mercy Corps (although the posters were developed independently of the organisation).

Take a look at the beautiful posters designed by nick Ostini and Raina Jungat at W+K Goodness and support the relief fund if you can. It's a really lovely way of donating and receiving a token of appreciation, and the great news for all of us abroad is that the posters can be shipped internationally.