Consumers and citizens alike turn inward for the truth. By designing for empowerment, the smartest organisations meet them there. We’ll explore why trust in the old guard has fallen apart - and then examine how today’s smartest companies and institutions rebuild trust by bolstering their customers’ knowledge. We’ll dig into examples from the public and private sector to ask: how do brands develop rapport when audiences let emotion cloud logic? What happens when cultural predisposition affects public safety? And how do voice and vulnerability go beyond buzzwords and into broader corporate strategy? You’ll see how to use tactics of design and content to empower users. The same tactics can work across industries, scale and audience. You’ll uncover a play-by-play approach to educating and empowering consumers and citizens alike - and learn how to operationalise vulnerability through design that rebuilds hope itself. Keynote presented at UX in the City Manchester, #UXCityMCR, on March 14, 2019, in Manchester UK.