Maya Burnand

About

Maya Burnand is a service designer with a background in journalism, visual storytelling, anthropological and open-source research. Her practice uses creative and ethnographic methods to communicate complexity and she is particularly interested in the intersection of film and research as a tool for advocacy and understanding. She sees design as a new lens for people to better understand and improve society.

While at the Royal College of Art, she was part of the winning team for the Philips brief in the Student Service Design Challenge. Their project addressed “diagnosis limbo”, the prolonged uncertainty faced by women and non-binary people living with undiagnosed symptoms in the UK. She interviewed patients and healthcare professionals, produced and edited a short film that conveyed the emotional and systemic impact of diagnosis limbo for the challenge and to spread awareness about the under researched area of medicine.

For her final project at the Royal College of Art, Maya analysed works of art, literature, film, photography and music that had influenced significant behavioural changes, changes in public opinion or conversations in parliament relating to policy change. She used these findings to create a short film, with both documentary and fictional elements, to respond to the issue of forced labour in global supply chains which has become a consumer responsibility in the UK.

Her work often bridges data-driven analysis and human storytelling. She has collaborated with open-source investigators documenting war crimes, helped the founding of a refugee support charity, and continues to shed light on complex issues through interviews and short films. She has worked across private, public and third sector projects, encouraging collaboration and cross-sector solutions. Whether through research, design, writing or film she creates experiences that invite audiences to engage with difficult problems in more empathetic and thoughtful ways.