Hello Again!

Myself with my co-conspirator Alice Weston, preparing for the first Merchant meeting for the redevelopment of Avenue Market in Baltimore

Hi! I’m back from a hiatus that I didn’t intend to go on as a writer here on Medium. The past two years have been transformative for me as a designer. I finished my Masters in Social Design, while still teaching at Pratt, worked on so many cool community engagement work, and social innovation projects, and got hired as part-time faculty at my alma mater for Social Design, all while trying to establish my social innovation practice.

It was a very chaotic past two years, and while I used to go back to writing as a way to download what’s on my brain. Finishing an intense year of a grad program that pulled me apart and revived me in such a short amount of time, made me incoherent in describing who I am as a designer.

After procrastinating for over a year, about writing a design manifesto. I finally distilled some beliefs that I intend to use in curating my work and energy.

My 5 core beliefs:

1. All humans deserve a dignified life.

A transformative therapy session has brought me the insight that living without shame is not the opposite of being ashamed. Our systems have made it so that some human experiences don’t think about how humiliating some of our processes are to access some basic needs. As a social designer, I wish to design outcomes. The positive outcome that I want to design for is that all humans aren’t subjected to humiliating experiences. No one should have to beg to be humanized, and any system of oppression that makes this happen, are system I would love the opportunity to redesign.

2. Our natural resources are limited.

Climate change is here and should be addressed with urgency. In my design practice, this will show up as being mindful of the materials I use, and any type of extraction from the Earth that shouldn’t happen. That, coupled with designing with cradle-to-cradle principles, and creating systems that sees waste as a resource is something I think about daily, which influences the next belief…

3. Just because you could, does not mean you should.

This touches on both of the above beliefs. Humanity is capable and powerful, that’s why we’re living in the Anthropocene. To be a good social impact designer to me, means being a curator and relentlessly editing ideas and concepts to ensure that building it will not do more harm than good. This means taking more time scoping and asking the right questions instead of coming up with answers right away.

4. Innovation without reparation will continue cycles of oppression.

Power and positionality are probably one of the most important concepts that I learned in my Grad program. It’s difficult to work on social impact living in this capitalistic framework. Too often, I see many organizations that put the burden of responsibility on people who are already oppressed, or those who are too willing to help. A lot of institutions need to be better at acknowledging extractive practices, and we can begin by questioning who is doing the work, how are they compensated, and who is burdened with the responsibility to be better.

5. Lived experiences on a subject matter > Professional experience & Educational merits.

Community-centered design practices can’t happen without the community. Buy-in and proper acknowledgment of their expertise are crucial in all of the work we do. As a designer, I acknowledge that in spaces where I’m not a direct member of the community, my work is to facilitate conversation and amplify the voices of the people I’m designing for.

Since 2016, I’ve been much more intentional with my design work. I said back then, I only wanted to use my design work for social impact. That mission got more focused as I attached my identity as an anti-capitalist designer who wants to decolonize design. Now, I’ve reached another level of focus and venturing into working only on projects with direct alignment with my beliefs above. I’m looking for projects that could tickle all those 3 different versions of me, but I’m struggling with finding work that could make a significant impact in ensuring everyone lives a dignified life. Maybe I just need to define that for myself first, so follow along while I try to figure that out!