In a recent Member Story check-in with René Benavides, she shared, “Trusting the people in the room opens up powerful connections.”

This month we are featuring member Susana Beltrán-Grimm. Susana Beltrán-Grimm is a postdoctoral research associate in the Human Development and Family Studies at Purdue University. Susana holds an Ed.D. in education and learning technologies from Pepperdine University. Her program of research and practice includes the study of community-based research through participatory methods like co-design approaches to produce equitable learning environments for Latine families and children.

This month we are featuring member Mina Kouvara. Mina is currently a Junior Research Fellow at the Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia, where she is also pursuing a PhD as a core member of the 'Cosmolocalism' research group. Her thesis explores sustainability in the context of an alternative mode of production and technology development based on the commons. She focuses on vernacular, grassroots and non-western perspectives. Mina’s background is in architecture, and she holds a MSc in Environment and Development of Mountain Regions from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. She is a founding and former core member of an NGO which conducts research on traditional building techniques, and the co-creator of the art initiative 'Quokka'. Mina is affiliated with the research collective P2P Lab.

This month we are featuring members Rubina Singh & Bhawna Parmar. Bhawna and Rubina are the cofounders of Barabar Design, an Indian social design collaborative. Bhawna is a social designer, researcher and an artist with varied experience across disciplines trying to find meaning at the intersections of co-design, research and social justice. Rubina is a social designer and artist. Rubina trained in law as well as design, which shaped her journey in rights-based social justice work for the last ten years.

This month we are featuring member David Dylan Thomas. David is author of Design for Cognitive Bias, creator and host of The Cognitive Bias Podcast, and a twenty-year practitioner of content strategy and UX, has consulted major clients in entertainment, healthcare, publishing, finance, and retail. As the founder and CEO of David Dylan Thomas, LLC he offers workshops and presentations on inclusive design and the role of bias in making decisions. He has presented at TEDNYC, SXSW Interactive, Confab, An Event Apart, LavaCon, UX Copenhagen, Artifact, IA Conference, IxDA, Design and Content Conference, Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise, and the Wharton Web Conference on topics at the intersection of bias, design, and social justice.

This month we are featuring member Kk Naimool. Co-founder and principal of Collective Justice Consulting, Kk is a writer, activist, and educator living in Beacon, NY where they currently serve on the city's Human Rights Commission. Kk is a queer, non-binary Indo-Caribbean transplant passionate about creating safer spaces for all. They are an avid advocate for equity and justice, predominantly in the areas of racial justice, gender justice and LGBT health equity. They have over two decades of experience in working with trauma impacted communities and developing curricula for collective healing. As a community organizer and pursuer of justice, Kk firmly believes that any meaningful change must include ALL of us and simultaneously hold space for our full selves. They currently serve in leadership roles in a number Queer AAPI collectives and racial justice collectives. As a former external auditor and trained accountant, Kk leverages their experience and knowledge to help growing organizations build in efficient processes and systems. Kk has helped nurture many grassroots collectives to formalize organizational structure and build internal capacity.

This month we are featuring member René Benavides. René is the founder of Vision to Action (VTA) Collective, a designer with Design x Emergence (D4E) and an experienced leader, facilitator, and coach. René finds joy in coaching others and facilitating spaces where individuals and groups engage in radical forms of love, healing, and transformation. She holds a Masters in Social Work (MSW), a Pupil Personnel Services Credential (PPSC) and is a former school and systems leader in the non-profit and education sector. René is also a Healing Centered Engagement Practitioner, a former National Equity Project Leading for Equity Fellow, a former Stanford d.school School Retool Fellow, and is currently training in somatic methodology towards International Coach Federation (ICF) certification. In addition to being part of the Design Justice Network, René is also a member of the Latinx Center for Excellence in Behavioral Health and the Justice Teams (JTN) California Healers Network.

This month we are featuring member Rachael Dietkus. Rachael Dietkus is an experienced senior-level licensed clinical social worker and trauma professional, systems thinker, design researcher, and strategist. Much of her current work draws from 20+ years of experience as a leader across serious and complex cause-driven health and human rights issues, local-to-federal-level housing advocacy, social work practice, and design education.

Rachael is a fierce advocate for integrating models of care and for thoughtfully and ethically including social (and other care) workers in design. She is the founder of Social Workers Who Design and works closely with designers worldwide to help build their trauma literacy and humility throughout the entire design research process.

This month, we would like to highlight and celebrate DJN Member, Michael Harrington. Mike is responsible for supporting the work of the Tishman Center by liaising with offices and departments throughout the university and implementing projects that advance The New School’s commitment to sustainability and environmental justice. Before joining the TEDC team, He worked at Elevate Energy, organizing around creating equity in the energy efficiency market; served as the chair of another environmental non-profit, the Delta Institute; and has helped manage an organic food bank garden for people with compromised immune systems. He also served on the associate board of the Green City Market, Chicago’s largest farmer’s market. He obtained his Master’s degree in Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management from The New School and has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in Psychology, with a specialization in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and was a 2019 Urban Design Forum Forefront Fellow and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Delta Institute, an environmental non-profit. Mike is a DJN member, and part of the DJN Communications Team! You can learn more about Mike Harrington by following him on Twitter @mrhansudo or Instagram @squalllionmonochrome.

This is an interview with Mike Harrington conducted by Lydia Hooper, both of whom are members of the Design Justice Network Communication Working group.

Kirsten George

Interior Designer and Educator

Lenape / Philadelphia, PA, USA

SHE/HER

“To me, design justice means understanding that every person has valuable insight and knowledge that not only deserves to be heard, but needs to be in order for successful design to be possible.”

This month, we are featuring the work of Max Masure, (they/them), is an Ethical UX Researcher, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Consultant, Author, and Public Speaker.

Read more!

This month, we are featuring the work of Jorn Bettin, an autistic anthropologist by birth and a knowledge archaeologist by autodidactic training. He has a background in mathematics, and has put his understanding of formal symbolic reasoning to good use in the co-design of ecosystems of visual domain specific languages, working closely with domain experts from a broad range of industries in transdisciplinary contexts. Jorn has been involved in operating S23M since 2002. His current work focuses on the co-design of new community-oriented and patient centric models of care, including supporting software tools. Jorn has co-authored a number of books on creative collaboration and model driven product line engineering, and he is part of the Autistic Collaboration Trust – a global mutual support hub for neurodivergent individuals and ventures.

This month, we are featuring the work of Valérie Lechêne & Lindsay Miller, who are DJN members who both attended Dr. Lesley-Ann Noel’s DJN Member Stories Share session.

Valérie Lechêne wrote the article below, and Lindsay Miller drew the illustrations and supported with documentation.

Valérie Lechêne - Val practices design, research, and organizing at the nexus of climate action, housing justice, and information architecture. Among other activities, she is an active member of The-Architecture-Lobby where she co-organizes the Architects Beyond Capitalism school and the campaign for an internationalist just transition (Green New Deal). She loves the poetry of Stella Nyanzi.

Lindsay Miller - Lindsay Miller is an applied technology and video game design researcher and artist/illustrator working out of San Diego, CA in the USA. She loves finding spaces where her design research and illustration skills can intersect, especially to support the creation of more accessible and inclusive futures. You can learn more about her applied design research work here or her illustration here.

If you are a DJN member doing interesting work, and would like to be featured in a future newsletter or blog post, please email us at designjusticenetwork@gmail.com.

This month, we are featuring the work of Sarah Fathallah, a designer, researcher, and educator who specializes in applying design to the social sector, with impact-driven clients like the International Rescue Committee and Open Society Foundations, to name a few. Sarah also co-founded Design Gigs for Good, a free community-driven resource to help more people use the tools of design to create positive social change.

You can connect with Sarah Fathallah directly at: https://sarahfathallah.com

If you are a DJN member doing interesting work, and would like to be featured in a future newsletter or blog post, please email us at designjusticenetwork@gmail.com.

This month, we are featuring the work of Dr. Pierce Gordon, an interdisciplinary researcher, facilitator, evaluator, and change catalyst impassioned by the intersection between transformation and liberation. His research and consultation work has tracked and supported design+international development's spread, complexity, and emergence: by developing reviews of human-centered design for international development, by conducting ethnographic analyses and facilitation projects in the Botswana innovation ecosystem, and by developing mixed-methods analyses of educational design spaces like OpenIDEO and UC Berkeley's DevENG Minor that unpack the efficacy of their platforms….

You can connect with Pierce Gordon directly at: piercegordon1.medium.com/about

Below is one article (of many), featuring Peirce’s work: A Hundred Racist Designs, and as well, a Podcast (Oct. 22, 2020): Racist designs, Design Justice and Mycelium.

If you are a DJN member doing interesting work, and would like to be featured in a future newsletter or blog post, please email us at designjusticenetwork@gmail.com.

This month, we are featuring the work of Dr. Lesley-Ann Noel, a Design Justice Member. Dr. Lesley-Ann Noel is Associate Director for Design Thinking for Social Impact and Professor of Practice at the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking at Tulane University. She is also the co-chair of the Pluriversal Design Special Interest Group with the Design Research Society. Dr. Lesley-Ann Noel designed a deck of cards (A Designer's Critical Alphabet) [available for purchase!] to introduce designers and design students to critical theory and to help them reflect on their design process. Each card introduces theory under that letter.

(This originally appeared on Hyperallergic, on November 17, 2020)

You can connect with Lesley-Ann directly at: https://lesleyannnoel.wixsite.com/website or on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesleyannnoel/) or Twitter (@mamaazure)

If you are a DJN member doing interesting work, and would like to be featured in a future newsletter or blog post, please email us at designjusticenetwork@gmail.com.

This month, we are featuring the work of Leila Sidi, of TuneTone Instruments. For the past 10 years, Leila Sidi has been studying woodworking and luthiery. Building mid-century inspired, high fidelity electric guitars, she focuses on environmental and design justice as it applies to her work. You can read more about her work below - Leila will take us through her journey into craft and discuss design priorities throughout her process!