A complex and beautiful year in review

2020 Membership Report

Welcome to the first Membership Report of the Design Justice Network! 2020 was difficult for reasons we are all too aware of. Yet as the Steering Committee met to consider everything that our network accomplished last year, we realized that we feel good, we feel calm, and we feel nourished by all of the work and play of the Design Justice Network (DJN) in 2020.

In this report, we summarize some of the key activities and developments across the network over the past year, and highlight some new DJN member stories. Please feel free to skim the Table of Contents if you just want the headlines, or dive in for more detail!

We're listening to the design justice community, and learning how to be better stewards of the collective process of growing and nurturing an international network. We're more committed than ever to the multi-generational work of dismantling all of the interlocking forms of oppression that create the matrix of domination.1 We're energized to continue to build and envision new worlds together, and as we enter 2021 we feel grateful to be in community with all of you.

Victoria, Denise Shanté, Una, Wes, & Sasha

1 "The matrix of domination is a term developed by Black feminist scholar Patricia Hill Collins [...] to refer to race, class, and gender as interlocking systems of oppression." Source: Black Feminist Thought, by Patricia Hill Collins (1990): https://www.routledge.com/Black-Feminist-Thought-Knowledge-Consciousness-and-the-Politics-of-Empowerment/Collins/p/book/9780415964722.

One of our goals as a network is to create concrete membership benefits. We're just beginning to figure out what that looks and feels like. In 2020, membership benefits included:

• access to our Slack, which became a vibrant space for conversation, resource sharing, opportunities and announcements, and local node and working group communication.

• a discount code for the book Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need.

• an invitation to the Design Justice Network Gathering at the 2020 Allied Media Conference.

• invitations to DJN Member Story sharing sessions, and the opportunity for members to lead one themselves.

• early access to the Oracle for Transfeminist Futures card deck (the first print run sold out quickly, but another run is in the works!).

• support for local node events, including graphic design, promotion, and organizing #NodesConnect meetings, where local node organizers gather to exchange experiences and support one another.

At the top of 2020, we were excited to welcome the newest Steering Committee member, Denise Shanté Brown. She is a sober queer disabled entrepreneur, holistic design strategist, writer and creative healer. Her lifeswork brings forth abundant possibilities for wellbeing through collaborative creativity and community-led practices.

As the founder of Black Womxn Flourish, a design for wellbeing collective, she’s dedicated to actualizing liberating and vibrant futures through design. Denise Shanté believes that creative, healing-centric experiences can shape possibilities and embolden communities to develop the tools and strategies we need for collective wellbeing. She holds a Masters in Social Design from MICA, embodied frameworks discovered during Feminist Business School, and recognition through leadership awards and fellowships celebrating her meaningful contributions toward health justice and liberatory praxis.

Her practice is grounded in design justice and healing justice principles, emergent strategy, nature, radical imagination and Black feminist theory. You can find her at deniseshantebrown.com →

What are your favorite luminous moments with DJN so far? 

• My first retreat in April with the Steering Committee that transformed into a virtual experience due to the pandemic. While I was disappointed about not being able to see what everyone’s legs look like in person, we had a fulfilling and vibrant retreat. Digital exhaustion is a reality but this time together revealed what’s possible in the digital realm when gatherings are facilitated with spaciousness, play and ease.

• Co-facilitating the meditation and bodywork offering with Corina Fadel during our AMC Network Gathering. Collaborating with someone who both understands and actively practices care in organizing was a dream, realized. It affirmed that Yes, it’s critical for design justice practitioners to slow down and take a breath before dreaming new futures. And Yes, it’s possible to weave rest into our agendas and gatherings if we truly value the bodies we inhabit to shape more compelling and just movements.

• Discovering the work of DJN Member Leila Sidi of TuneTone Instruments. It was so inspiring to see others who are courageously broadening the perspective of how design justice shows up in the world that I brought their work in as an example during my course, Design as a Pathway to Justice. We need these new forms and definitions of what we can do when the principles are practiced. The students and community members absolutely loved seeing this reflected because they also saw themselves.

Visit Denise’s website →
Visit Black Womxn Flourish collective →

Imagine a future where Design Justice Network’s member engagement is active and sustainable, members have a strong sense of support from the network, and design justice principles are widely practised and celebrated.

In January 2020, we started collaborating with the design community at the School of Visual Art’s Design for Social Innovation (DSI) program to support our membership engagement strategy through their Communications Design class. Making Communications Work is a fifteen-week class at DSI in which students engage with outside client partners, to benefit their growth and impact, as part of the learning experience for the students. The awesome team (Alyson Fraser Diaz, Laura Ceron Melo, Leah Brown and Dasha Zlochevsky) provided us with thoughtful concepts, interventions, and strategic recommendations. So many possibilities are emerging and we’re excited to continue implementing their suggestions on ways we can begin to collaboratively shape membership engagement today, tomorrow and beyond.

In 2020, the following local nodes became official in DJN: Los Angeles, Boston, Vancouver, and Dallas. These joined the existing Toronto, Philly, Mediterranean, San Francisco Bay area, Chicago, Singapore, and Scotland, UK nodes. New local nodes are still in the process of forming! Additionally, Principles at Work also became a DJN working group!

Visit the Local Nodes page →
Visit the Working Groups page →

DJN Steering Committee member Sasha Costanza-Chock's book Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need was published by MIT Press. The book draws on the history of DJN, and explores how design might be led by marginalized communities, dismantle structural inequality, and advance collective liberation and ecological survival. It is available open access, has received positive reviews, and recently won an Association of American Publishers 2021 PROSE award!

Read the book online for free! →
Purchase the book →

The Design Justice Network Steering Committee held a retreat in early April. They built community and shared intentions, and explored some of the challenges and opportunities of the rapid recent growth of the network (at that time, we had just over 600 signatories and about 125 members!).

They shared stories of their own journeys through design and community organizing, and dreamed of the possibilities of organizing a structured way for all DJN members to share those kinds of stories soon. At this retreat, the Steering Committee realized that the network was in need of a Mission and Vision, and decided to bring in a facilitator (Corina Fadel) to help with that process. This process continued through 2020, and into the new year.

Read more about the DJN Steering Committee Retreat →

A local node within the Design Justice Network is a space for local members to gather and grow design justice related projects, ideas, processes, and community. Local #NodesConnect has become a monthly meeting space for all design justice local nodes to meet, collaborate and share stories. Local nodes have thus far developed as volunteer-driven and community-based groups through organizing work that reflects their location/communities and the design justice network principles. #NodesConnect meetings have taken place monthly, since April 2020, to allow space for shared ideas, resources and collaboration. They continue into 2021, and with your important feedback, are adjusting to accommodate better timing for our international community.

One of the most important things that surfaced during the DJN Steering Committee’s April 2020 Retreat was the need to move with more intention. This led us to the idea of developing a mission and vision. The first step we took was identifying someone to facilitate the process. The person we identified was Corina Fadel, who has structured a process that started mid-2020 and will continue until late spring or early summer of 2021. The process includes the ongoing participation of Steering Committee members and will include network members as well. We also identified that we needed support with organizational development, and Corina is also supporting this.

How can design challenge, rather than reproduce, structural inequalities? And how can we collectively imagine a future in which design justice permeates how design is practiced? Coordinators, Rigoberto Lara Guzmán, Christina N. Harrington, Ph.D., L05 / Carlos Garcia, and Em Lane, asked these questions, and facilitated Dreaming the Future into Existence by hosting the Design Justice Network Gathering at the 2020 Allied Media Conference! Many DJN members participated and supported by asking questions, taking notes, and more. DJN Steering Committee, Corina Fadel, and Nour Arafat facilitated different conversations and experiences during this day-long session on July 23, 2020.

Read more about DJN at the 2020 Allied Media Conference →

This was a one-hour session during the 2020 Allied Media conference, to build on the magic of the Design Justice Network Gathering and connect more deeply & directly. Una Lee and Wesley Taylor facilitated and opened the space by highlighting parallel beginnings in community, and their journeys into the Design Justice Principles. Other members then shared their journey into the principles and then in smaller breakout rooms, members shared either a project that has used the design justice principles, and/or one that they’d like to use principles on.

Read the notes from this session →

This was an informal discussion/workshop about design justice in visual and material design, where DJN members shared reflections and theories on whether there is greater participation of design justice in certain design circles, identified potential steps towards intentional organizing in the visual/material design spaces (and other under-represented practitioners), and connected more deeply with each other and with each others’ practices.

This workshop explored the question of how to build power and accountability in our organizations using the design justice principles and by engaging with work scenarios drawn from real-life stories. DJN members left having developed strategies and tactics to use in their workplaces, organizations, and communities, around systemic change within these institutions.

The workshop was run by DJN members Danny Spitzberg, Kevin Shaw, Marissa Wilkins, Colin Angevine, M Strickland, Janel Yamashiro, Rhonda Adams, Leah Lockhart, Chelsea Schiller, Fionn Tynan-O'Mahony, and Victoria Barnett.

These are stories written by/in collaboration with a DJN member, about their work, life and/or anything featuring them and how they intersect with design justice and the design justice principles! These are monthly features in our newsletter and on our social media channels.

Read more DJN Member Stories Here →

These are informal sessions for DJN members to talk about their work and how it intersects with design justice and the design justice principles! One DJN member shares a written, text or oral/video story, and then presents about it with/for other DJN members. The first session with Leila Sidi, was held December 2nd, and the program continues into 2021. DJN members are able to participate and ask questions, and recordings of the sessions are shared on our YouTube channel afterwards.

Read more DJN Member Stories Here →
Watch DJN Member Stories Here →

Thank you for being a DJN Member! Thank you for all that you bring, contribute, and do to make design justice practiced and celebrated in the world, and in our lives.

We are continuing to learn and grow together, and in that process, we are sharing and highlighting more of the amazing work of our members. We asked DJN members to submit stories focused on a more holistic view of design justice—how design justice shows up in everyday life: from community and work, to relationships with family, friends and partners, to dreams and hopes for the worlds we need. While we cannot feature everyone here, we are continuing to collect and share these stories within the network and our social channels. We’re excited for you to find out more about our DJN members, and look forward to having you featured as well!

How does design justice show up in your life? 

Within my work, design justice shows up in the way I challenge myself (and others) to think about how systems of oppression within human-centered design (and research) are used to worsen inequities amongst people who are minoritized by society. This leaves me with an insatiable curiosity for thinking about my place within the matrix of domination and how I can be more intentional in my work for advancing design justice principles (e.g. questioning assumptions, challenging "the way we do things''/normalcy. This passion bleeds over from my personal life, in that I try to create and nurture cultures of inclusivity, respect, and dignity.

What are you working on right now?

I'm working on weaving shared experiences into the fabric of research which supports human-centered design within public health. I'm also working on redesigning a UX research course to center design justice principles.    

Website: nechari.com
Twitter: @necharism

How does design justice show up in your life? 

I am an interdisciplinary designer and artist, educator, and a member of the Design Justice Network and the the queer feminist collective ‚dgtl fmnsm‘. Apart from teaching I also curate and organize community events at the intersection of technology, art and design. My current research focuses on the effects of machine learning systems on society. My work illustrates how discriminatory structures in society are reproduced and reinforced by algorithmic decision-making systems.  

In my work, I am exploring the impact that technologies such as AI/Machine Learning have on our society and how they reproduce and even amplify discriminatory structures.

Way too often our technologies reflect the capitalist, white supremacist, imperialist patriarchy we're living in. We need to work hard towards decolonizing the structures of our society to (re)create other ways of living and relating to each other.

For me, the Design Justice Principles are a blueprint for all steps in a design process. A principle that accompanies me a lot in everyday life is #4: ""We view change as emergent from an accountable, accessible, and collaborative process, rather than as a point at the end of a process"". This means that we can only get to just outcomes if our way of getting there is equally reflective of our values. Often, unfortunately, this is not the case. Even in non-profits it happens that people wreck themselves ""for the cause"", so to speak, or that marginalising structures within the organisation are not allowed to be questioned. The task of pointing out these structures and changing them is often placed on the shoulders of those affected, instead of seeing it as a collective task that should form the foundation for all work.

Emergent technologies in particular are very much about new regulations and principles for design. But these usually do not take into account the structural and institutional oppressions that in reality play such a big role. Very few of the technologists or government policy makers are guided by what already exists and has proven itself in community organising.

The way we interact and work with each other, as well as our technologies, must reflect the values we want for a more just society.

What are you working on right now?

Through collaborative questioning and designing, I want to contribute to better algorithmic and data literacy. To this end, I develop speculative art and media projects with and about machine learning and justice, educational materials and explanatory videos for students, as well as workshop kits. With my collaborator Buse Çetin I'm currently working on a digital think-tank and a collaborative platform on AI & society. It will be a space for critical and constructive knowledge, visionary fiction & speculative art and community-organizing. The platform aims to enable an understanding how AI technologies can exacerbate oppressing power structures in our society, as well as to question predominant AI narratives, imposed visions of future, and oppressive structures that are beginning to emerge from the widespread use of AI technologies. And its goal is also to redefine how AI technologies might and should serve us, improve representation, equity and connection, and help to create visions of the future from the margins.

Website: nushinyazdani.com
Instagram: @nushin.isabelle

How does design justice show up in your life? 

During an out-of-school program in the weeks preceding the COVID pandemic and subsequent lockdown in Central Ohio, more than 2 dozen youth surprised me time and time again through their designing. Program activities challenged the youth to "make for one another''—to identify and share problems they encountered in their daily lives, then design solutions to help their peers and program staff. Through their design-based making (the captioned photo is an example of their making), youths showed their ability to empathize with one another, then to literally build visions for a shared future, one that often exposed my own biases and assumptions about their lived experiences. Design Justice shows up in my life as I co-create with others in my work as a volunteer, neighbor, educator, and designer; I am inspired to facilitate moments of surprising understanding that push us to question what we know and include those we may overlook.

What are you working on right now?

Currently, I work with non-profit youth program providers to envision, facilitate, and assess novel classes, workshops and programs that center youths' lived experiences through design-based making.

Website

How does design justice show up in your life? 

Learning about and engaging with design justice has helped me expand my understanding of design, especially in the context of the built environment. I think as designers, it is easy to get caught up in the small details of a design project and maintain a narrow focus. A particular space can be designed in a way that pays close attention to addressing important problems, but the industry as a whole still operates in extremely harmful ways. Design justice reminds me to keep my perspective wide for this reason.

I have been especially grateful in the ways that design justice has been grounding in the ways that I frame design for interior design students as an educator. It is wonderful to see students dreaming up endless possibilities.

What are you working on right now?

Within the context of DJN, I am collaborating with a few folks from our node on a project that aims to create a space for youth to learn about and interact with design justice. We are still in the planning stages of this project, but are planning to host a virtual workshop and co-create a zine later this year. I have spent the past 4 years co-organizing a community garden in my neighborhood called Mercy Emily Edible Park, which was originally created as a part of the Philly Food Forests movement over ten years ago. Food insecurity is a very serious problem in Philly. Each season, we meet with gardeners, neighbors, and local organizations like Neighborhood Gardens Trust to reassess the community garden model and determine what we can do to better serve the neighborhood that season. Once it feels safe to do so, we are hoping to begin holding educational opportunities in the garden that range from culturally-relevant, seasonal recipe ideas to tips on growing fresh food in limited space or light.

Website: kirstengeorge.com
Instagram: kirstenegeorge

The Design Justice Network grew out of a question at a session at the Allied Media Conference in 2015: if there were a design justice movement, what principles would guide it? We had no idea at the time that now, almost six years later, we would be a network with over 1600 signatories, 450 members, multiple years of Network Gatherings and Tracks at the AMC, and local nodes springing up around the world! So DJN has grown well beyond our wildest dreams, and people are also aligning in really exciting ways around the concept of design justice well beyond the network.

Thank you for being a part of the Design Justice Network. Thank you for your patience with the Steering Committee and staff. We are building capacity to support you with resources and care as you self-organize local nodes and working groups, and as we all continue to deepen our practices within and beyond the network.

Victoria, Denise Shanté, Una, Wes, & Sasha

A complex and beautiful year in review

2020 Membership Report 

We acknowledge that as an international network, we are currently standing on the ancestral lands of many Indigenous nations. Through this land acknowledgment, we also honor the thousands of enslaved Africans who physically and spiritually tended to these lands.

Writing    
Denise Shanté Brown, Victoria Barnett, Una Lee, Wesley Taylor, Sasha Costanza-Chock

Coordination    
Victoria Barnett

Art direction    
Denise Shanté Brown

Graphic design
Guadalupe Pérez Pita

Special thanks to our members Nechari, Nushin, William, & Kirsten, featured in this report.