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A note on citing and using our resources

Citations are more than just a footnote. They are a practice of meaningfully honoring the lineages of who and where we learn from which extends to human and more-than-human relationships. If you learn from us, or are inspired by the words we write and speak, we encourage you to feed back into our streams of work to nourish and sustain our practices. This could look like financial support, amplifying our work and offerings, or connecting us to relevant work opportunities and prospective clients.

Permissible uses for our frameworks:

  • You may use these framework to guide your personal research and design practices.

  • You may share this framework in its pdf form on social media, emails and newsletters with full attribution.

Non-permissible uses for these frameworks:

  • You may not publish this framework without our explicit written consent.

  • You may not use this framework for business or commercial purposes with any paid/unpaid client/learner.

  • You may not alter or modify this framework including images and words without our explicit written consent.

If you have questions about how to cite us, or how to use the resources below, please get in touch

Lastly, our resources are emergent and ever changing. If you engage with them, we’d love to hear your reflections/feedback and to know how you use them.

Relational Design

A diagram contrasts human centered design with relational design. On the left, a triangle represents human supremacy and privilege, with humans at the top, animals and plants at the bottom. On the right, a circle represents a holistic ecosystem

Our Approach:

Dominant worldviews are based on an imperial philosophy that places privileged humans at the top of an imagined hierarchy - exploiting the labour and resources of Black and Indigenous communities around the world, while harming the planet.

Through Relational Design we see humans as part of a larger ecosystem, with every element of life carrying equal importance, and contributing to our holistic wellbeing for generations to come.

Relational Design also informs the manner in which we engage with one another, ourselves, our work, and our outer environment. Through this framework, we seek to build reciprocal, healthy connection - respecting the agency, dignity, and knowledge of all life.

concentric rings with an illustration of a seed turning into a dandelion growing through each layer. layers are self reflection, sensing and inquiry, holistic sense making, responsible co-creation, regeneration and emergence

Our approach to relational design is non-linear. There is no distinct separation between each phase. While they occur in some order, they also occur throughout. Self awareness, sensing, and sensemaking are woven throughout the process.

While some of these “phases” may resemble aspects of design thinking, we engage in this process differently.

Relational Design is an emergent process that is steeped in care, relational responsibility, and consensual collaboration. We root our purpose in restoration and regeneration - creating a more habitable, healthier and joyful future for generations to come.

If you’re interested in learning more about this framework, or if you are interested in the services we offer that bring Relational Design to life, reach out through our contact form or check out our Intro to Relational Design learning experience.

Coloniality in Modern Design

Infographic with 10 words surrounding the image of a house. These are ownership, modernity, separation, scarcity, linearity of time, carcerality, eurocentric intellectualism, extraction, centralization of power, commodification

We created this infographic to illustrate the many ways in which coloniality informs dominant approaches to design and research.

This visual is not intended to be prescriptive nor diagnostic. Rather, we hope it serves a catalyst for exposing some of the underlying mechanisms through which coloniality is (re)produced. We know there are more, and will continue to evolve this visual over time.

We encourage those who engage with this resource to become aware of the practices (tools) that reinforce these logics, and to experiment with those that will dismantle it.

How we created this and where we draw inspiration from:

We acknowledge that Design and Research have existed for millennia, and so it is important that we make the distinction between “modern” design as the dominant, western, institutionalized practice, and Design as a broader concept.

Audre Lorde's quote, “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house” inspired us to reflect upon the semblance of the house and tools within the context of “modern” design.

This framework was conceived through much contemplation, as we sought to examine the ways coloniality persists in our practice and through our engagements with clients. We considered the standard tools and approaches of design and research that are frequently adopted without critique or question, that tend to reinforce notions of power, domination, and control. From this exploration, we identified what we call the “10 building blocks” of modern design and research. As we simulated scenarios within the house, we observed how these building blocks interacted with one another and how certain practices (tools) simultaneously reinforced multiple blocks.

To shape our language around modernity and separation, we drew inspiration from Vanessa Andreotti's thought-provoking work, "The House Modernity Built," which we encountered through the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures Collective. The House of Modernity tells the story of a house which is built upon a foundation of separability, existing on a planet that it has outgrown.