Designers As Allies:
A Way to Act During Times of Injustice
As designers we have the ability to influence cultural dynamics and shine a brighter light on the artifacts, systems and practices that have perpetuated inequities. Recent innovations often overlook large groups of people and communities resulting in disparities within almost every aspect of the human experience.
Come as you are, and understand your role as an ally when it comes to these pervasive power differences and imbalances. Join our speakers, Dr. Dimeji Onafuwa and Jabe Bloom as they share a framework for allies. Learn how as a designer you can identify symbolic violence and begin to address injustices through your work.
Workshop Resources & Recap
In addition to the session video, we’ve compiled resources and references that came out of the workshop with Dr. Dimeji Onafuwa and Jabe Bloom below. We invite you to watch, review and share the materials below with a friend whether you attended live or are joining us for the first time.
If you were satisfied with the workshop or want to support fighting racial and economic injustice, please make a donation to The Equal Justice Initiative.
We also recommend checking out our YouTube playlist for more important contextual information on racial injustice, both today and historically.
Ally is a Verb
Leverage Pluriversal Design Principles
Systems of Injustice, Oppression & Violence
Recommended Resources
Acknowledgements & Thanks from the Speakers
Related Works
📖 Allies and Decoloniality: A Review of the Intersectional Perspectives on Design, Politics & Power Symposium by Dimeji Onafuwa
🎥 Recommoning Communities Dimeji Onafuwa (Microsoft) Jabe Bloom (Red Hat) OpenShift Commons Gathering
📖 Design as Symbolic Violence: Reproducing the ‘isms’ + a framework for Allies by Dr. Joanna Boehnert and Dimeji Onafuwa
🎥 A Technologist's Introduction to Epistemic Injustice Cat Swetel (Verica) and Jabe Bloom (Red Hat)
Equal Justice Initiative
To learn more about EJI’s important work and racial justice, visit EJI at https://eji.org/racial-justice/
Thank you to those who are financially contributing to fight against racial and economic injustice. It has been tremendous to be able to host an event like this, and even more so that we have a community so generous and open to supporting a cause such as the Equal Justice Initiative. 100% of your donation has been sent to The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) and is part of the $750 directly raised from the Designers As Allies event. If you didn't get a chance to donate yet and would like to, click here.
To learn more about this picture, check out this YouTube playlist of Equal Justice Iniative and related videos.