Is your relationship to the past cursing your view of the present? My father and I have a little debate we can’t seem to defuse. Every time I see my father in person, we have a huge hearty hug, exchange pleasantries and talk about our little worlds, and then somehow…

Why do futurists, designers, and innovators have such a limited understanding of how power affects social change? “After three weeks of co-design, we felt like we truly made something special.” As a part of an International Development Design Summit, dozens of designers from over twenty countries flocked to a small…

“How exactly is a design “racist”? A couple of months ago, I wrote an article called A Hundred Racist Designs, detailing just a few of the millions of ways racism shapes design and how design shapes racism. The speculum? The tipping system, intellectual property laws? Racism intersected with many more…

On building a system where everyone has a voice. Who deserves to be a part of our society? Our Time is Now by Stacey Abrams is a scrupulously detailed text on today’s unique opportunity in American society. By unpacking the value of identity politics, emoting the crushing experience of her…

Have you heard of a kgotla? Depending on the context, it’s a public meeting, traditional law court, a community council of Botswana villages, or all of these at once. I hadn’t heard of one until I visited the country for my research. In 2016, at Botswana’s second International Development Design…

To reach our dreams, it sometimes feels necessary to break the sound barrier accomplishing tasks. Soon enough, however, we’ll be ones left shattered. What have you lost, on accident or purpose, because of the pandemic? Flash Gordon has been my nickname my entire life. I got the name from a…

Design centers a massive promise: that the field can shape the world. How does it fall short? What made you fall in love with design? Personally, the field made me feel like I could do anything. Our tools, mindsets, spaces, and creations have stewarded possibility for generations. I remember learning…

We need new ways to think about transforming the world. Fortunately, the path was trailblazed half a century ago. Does going to school make you feel empowered? Think back to the last time you were in a classroom. We’re not talking about when you walked across the stage, or the…