Here on Design.blog over 50 thought leaders have contributed essays on design, inclusion, +/- tech in Community, Creativity, Culture, Exclusion, Health, Leadership, Learning, Product, Work, and Writing. We share their voices here on design.blog in the hopes that you might consider the power and relevance of inclusion when it comes to designing, working, and living.
We recently hosted an online, all-remote conference on Design and Exclusion that you can listen to here with radio personality Amy Choi as the host.
🆕🆕🆕 New
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” —Albert Einstein
- Rebrand Cities: Art in Motion, and More
- Carl and Elena Schrónez: Spotlight on Detroit Small Businesses
- Samantha Zhang on Crafting Design Systems for Big Data
- Lisa Katayama: The Power of Stories in a Complex World
- Samantha Hankins: ‘But Wait, Is Your Last Name Filipino?’
- Hajj Flemings: What Is Human Brand Design?
👬👫👭 Community
“The community which has neither poverty nor riches will always have the noblest principles.” —Plato
- Carl and Elena Schrónez: Spotlight on Detroit Small Businesses
- Mel Choyce: 3 Reasons Why Every Designer Should Create a WordPress Theme
- Alisha Ramos: Embracing My Mixed Race, Hybrid Identity
- Lauren McCarthy on Building an Inclusive Open Source Community for Creators
- Michelle Kumata on Empowering Community Voices
- Hajj Flemings on The 100 Project–The Plan to Rebrand Detroit
- Burak Arikan on Civic Data, the Foundational Tool to Fight Abuses of Power
💭🗯💬 Creativity ⇡
“It’s not about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating they have to be about change.” —Miles Davis
- Rebrand Cities: Art in Motion, and More
- Samantha Zhang on Crafting Design Systems for Big Data
- Valerie Casey on Transforming Creative Bias Into Power
- Phillip Tiongson on Design, Filipino Tennessean Style
- Jongmin Kim on Embracing ‘the Essence of Programming’
- Jessie Shefrin On Critical Making
- Ian Bogost: Play Anything
- Kyna Leski on the Storm of Creativity
- Amy Whitaker on Art Thinking: Where Creativity and Commerce Intersect
▶️⏹⏩ Culture ⇡
“Culture makes people understand each other better.” —Paolo Coelho
- Michael Arestad: Open Source Everything
- Carl & Elena Schrónez: Things We’ve Learned From Telling Others’ Stories
- Bob Baxley: Don’t Judge. Just Observe.
- Olatokunbo Fagbamigbe and JR Kanu on Proprietary Design vs Conscientious Design
- Alice Rawsthorn on Design and Choice
- Jessica Helfand: Design and Precedent
✋😈🤖 Exclusion⇡
“All paradises, all utopias are designed by who is not there, by the people who are not allowed in.” —Toni Morrison
- Samantha Hankins: ‘But Wait, Is Your Last Name Filipino?’
- Caroline Sinders on Ethical Product Design for Machine Learning
- Ash Huang: How Much Poison Is Acceptable in Our Technology?
- John Palfrey on The Paradox of Tolerance
- Lena Groeger on Discrimination By Design
🤕🤒💪 Health ⇡
“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” —Mahatma Gandhi
- Megs Fulton on Designing for Doctors and Health Technology
- ‘Nothing Special’: Rohan Gunatillake on Mindfulness In Design
🤝🌪🌊 Leadership ⇡
“Leadership is accepting responsibility for enabling others to achieve shared purpose under conditions of uncertainty.” —Marshall Ganz
- Hajj Flemings: What Is Human Brand Design?
- Jewel Burks: How My Identity Impacted My Business
- Saron Yitbarek: ‘I Don’t Belong in Tech’
- Ced Funches on the Responsibility of Being Better Than Advertised
- Justin Dunn on Coding A New Path to the Championship
- Becky Bermont on The Structure and Chaos of Organization Design
- Ashleigh Axios: Four Leadership Tips from the White House
- Kevin Bethune on Picking the Locks: Journey to Innovation
- Sara Berman on the Entrepreneur vs. Artist: A Game of Boundaries
🍎📖🙌 Learning ⇡
“Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.” —Marian Wright Edelman
- Wendy Johansson on Designing a UX Academy in Mexico
- Angela Kyle on Why Blocks Matter: Designing the Future of Design Education at Street Level
- Ricarose Roque: Designing from My Childhood
- Mitchel Resnick: Designing for Wide Walls
📱🚙🌟 Product ⇡
“Quality is much better than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.” —Steve Jobs
- Ti Chang: 3 Things to Consider Before I Design Anything
- Tammie Lister: Design for Humans, Not Robots
- Dom Goodrum on Why Measuring Design Isn’t a Terrible Idea
- Scott Belsky on Crafting The First Mile of Product
- Kat Holmes: Who Gets To Play?
- Ti Chang on Manufacturing in China as an American Designer
- Julie Zhuo on the Lessons of Good Design
- Above All Else, Authenticity: Cassidy Blackwell on Designing for the Individual
🏃♀️🏃💨 Work ⇡
“The productivity of work is not the responsibility of the worker but of the manager.” —Peter Drucker
- Catt Small on Designing an Inclusive Workplace Culture
- Jules Walter on Diversity in Tech: The Unspoken Empathy Gap
- Sarah Cooper on 9 Tricks to Appear Smart in Brainstorming Meetings
- The E-lephant in the Room: Jocelyn Glei Examines How Email Took Over Our Lives
- Courtney E. Martin on the Coworking Revolution
- Sarah Burstein on ‘Design’ & Design Patents
✍️🗒🤳 Writing ⇡
“It ain’t whatcha write, it’s the way atcha write it.” —Jack Kerouac
