Design, equity and self-care
8 months ago • 3 min readIt's been a few months since you've heard from me as I've unfortunately been caught in an avalanche of health issues (as I wrote about here on LinkedIn). As a result, all plans for Design Changemakers had to unfortunately come to a screeching halt, including this newsletter. I'm finally back (but still healing). In this edition, I bring you 3 lessons learned on weaving self-care into a more equity-centered design practice (i.e. don't do what I did). And I will close with a few equitable asks...
READ POSTTo design for social change, we need more than just "best practices"
11 months ago • 2 min readIn our last digest of the year, I'll explore how discernment can help us integrate and embody social change practices. And I'll share an exciting learning event for you to put discernment into practice! Are best practices actually helpful? Best practices and guidelines around accessibility, inclusion and equity exist to guide design decision-making — for instance, ensuring colors for text and iconography meet minimum color contrast ratios to enhance the accessibility of our designs. But what...
READ POSTHow reflexivity opens doors to more equitable outcomes in design
11 months ago • 2 min readIn this week's digest, we're explore the topic of reflexivity, building upon what we covered in last week's digest. You may be asking yourself, reflexi-what? I define reflexivity as bringing in a layer of critical reflection and systems thinking to your design and research work. In the simplest of terms, think of it as a set of keys. These keys will help you open doors to more nuanced understanding of repeated patterns in our beliefs, behaviors and decisions that lead us to inequitable...
READ POSTHow tools can aid or hinder us in designing for social change
12 months ago • 1 min readTime and time again, I'll hear, "Can you give us a practical checklist or tool?" I tell teams to be mindful about how they use tools in design work around equity, inclusion and justice. While tools can absolutely transform what can feel like abstract concepts into concrete steps we can actually take, they come with many pitfalls when poorly designed or misused. They can unintentionally reinforce biases and assumptions. They're often removed from the realities of the context in which we do...
READ POSTDesign Changemakers is officially live!
12 months ago • 1 min readAfter many months of development, Design Changemakers has at last arrived! I'm so excited to bring you an ever-growing collection of courses, tools, resources and events on designing for positive change. On this platform, you'll find: Courses: We're starting with our Design Changemaking Accelerator that will equip you with Tools: Digital card decks built around our changemaking frameworks that will enable you to move from theory to action Events: One-off workshops and live events to help you...
READ POSTHarnessing our changemaking power to design a more just world
about 1 year ago • 2 min readIf you're reading this digest, it's likely that you aspire to use design for good. But sometimes it can feel like we don't have the power to fight oppression when it's so big and overwhelming. This is how I have felt in the past few weeks. Big changes in my personal life — moving apartments all on my own — had thrown me off course. In the midst of that, violence erupted in Israel and Gaza. As an equity-centered practitioner, I felt the pressure to do something. But what could I possibly do? I...
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