Design Changemakers Digest

The horrors of Ghiblification Over the past two weeks, AI-generated images in the style of Studio Ghibli have gone viral. I'm sure you've seen them. You have the more "innocuous" images such as illustrated selfies, family portraits, and memes. But you also have horrific depictions of Nazi rallies, the September 11th tragedy in New York, and even immigrants being forcibly arrested (posted by the White House account on X). Some have found the outputs dreamlike and nostalgic. Others consider...

The Design Changemaking Portal is live! Dear changemakers, After many years of development, I'm excited to introduce you to design changemaking—a design ethos and practice that helps us dismantle oppression and design pathways to liberatory futures. I've brought it to life through an online visual journey at the Design Changemaking Portal. It invites you to see and approach design in ways that are attuned to collective liberation and to justice (and not capitalism). And it's built upon the...

Creativity as resistance TL;DR: We're gathering next Tuesday, March 18th on how can we use our collective creativity to resist oppression. Register here. Throughout history, creativity has been a tool not just for expression, but for survival, defiance, and transformation. When power seeks to erase, creative resistance insists: we are here.When oppression narrows possibilities, creative acts stretch the limits of what we can imagine.When systems of control demand silence, creativity refuses...

Dear changemaker, Most of us have been in workshops, meetings, or trainings that feel…off. Maybe they start abruptly with no grounding. Maybe the same voices dominate, while others shrink back. Maybe the space feels transactional—and it's uncomfortable. What if we designed our gatherings with intention, weaving in moments that break from the usual and move us toward something more relational and playful? Here are three small but powerful practices to bring into your virtual or in-person...

Dear changemaker, What does it mean to design for liberation in a world where oppression is intentionally built into systems? That question has guided the creation of Design Changemaking— foundations for dismantling oppression and co-designing liberatory futures. After years of evolution, I’m excited to finally share this work. What I thought would be a week-long rollout has transformed into a month-long unfolding. Like a field of wildflowers, it's best explored slowly, one bloom at a time....

Can we really design for everyone? One of the things that frustrates me about the phrase "design for everyone” or even "universal design" is that it hides a simple truth: you can’t actually design for everyone. Designing for inclusion, equity and accessibility involves trade-offs. Removing a barrier for one group can inadvertently create new barriers for others. These things aren’t always compatible, and that’s where the real work begins. Case in point: Emojis and (Fake) Formatted Text This...

Hi changemaker! A quick look at what’s ahead in this week's digest: Why slowing down is essential for liberatory work, including a deep dive into how I approached this in my own practice Details on the Design Changemaking Launch Party & Deep Dive (Feb 25th) to celebrate the release of the Design Changemaker's Guide and its frameworks! Help shape our upcoming community gathering on strategic resistance Let’s Slow Down Western design culture often prioritizes speed over depth — design sprints,...

Is this real life? If you're in the U.S. — or have been following along from other parts of the world — the past few weeks have felt like a whirlwind. We've seen unprecedented attacks on DEI, USAID, federal grants, trans rights and treasury payment systems by the Trump administration (and unelected accomplices). As sociologist Jennifer Walter notes, this flood of policies exemplifies Naomi Klein's "shock doctrine" — using chaos to push through changes while people are too disoriented to...

Hello changemaker, We're kicking off 2025 with collective learning! Join us on January 14th to discover design changemaking, a holistic design approach for liberating people and planet from systems of oppression.This isn't your typical webinar — this is a mini immersion into how to harness the power of design for systemic change. Intro to Design Changemaking Where Creativity Meets Collective Liberation Tuesday, January 14th9am PT/12pm EST/6 pm CEST Register What to Expect This 1-hour...