While oppression has been systematically designed into our world, we have the power to disrupt it.
We exist to support builders, healers, dreamers and activists in learning and in boldly co-designing liberatory futures.
We envision a future where anyone can design solutions that liberate people and planet from systems of oppression. Our mission is to enable changemakers to harness the power of design to make liberatory futures a reality.
We see design changemaking as one of many paths we can take to move us toward a future of a collective liberation.
Here, we see it as an ethos and way of designing solutions rooted in changemaking. It allows us to enable change at a systems level and not simply in design practices and design outcomes.
In practice, it means breaking down oppressive barriers, reducing harm and uplifting the most marginalized with our designs.
We offer a variety of spaces and resources for people of all backgrounds to grow and thrive as design changemakers.
A starting point for us, evolving over time as we forge this gathering place together.
Actions speak louder than words. That's why we have intentionally designed equity, inclusion and accessibility into this platform.
As this gathering place is self-funded and operated by a team of one, we commit to ongoing improvements as the team and our funding (hopefully) grows over time.
We break down barriers to access through multiple price points and equitable discounts to our gatherings and offerings. We regularly offer free insights, resources and learning in our Design Changemakers Digest and Library.
We provide ALT text, visual descriptions, closed captions, transcripts and audio-only versions of video content. We limit our use of jargon and complex language and are mindful of color contrast. We accomodate ad hoc accessibility requests to the best of our ability.
We use community agreements (with repercussions when not respected), content moderation and thoughtful facilitation practices to ensure you feel seen, heard, safe and respected in your learning experiences.
We draw visuals, examples, stories and data from a variety of contexts and geographies. While our work is currently in English, we hope to make translations available in the future. We aim to expand the voices, perspectives and lived experiences reflected in all of our spaces as our resourcing capabilities grow.
Design Changemakers was founded by Sandra Camacho (She/Her), a Franco-Colombian-American independent equitable design strategist, advisor and educator based in Paris, France. After 8 years at Google, she took on the alias Sandra By Design in 2018 to support organizations to design for positive change.
She's spent the past 6+ years working with organizations around the world to evolve culture, practices and processes for more inclusive and equitable outcomes. She's also the founder of the Inclusive Design Jam community.
Design Changemakers is an offshoot of the Inclusive Design Jam, a community of practice on inclusive and equitable design on Slack.
Formerly known as the Inclusive Design Jam Academy, it became a standalone learning platform in late 2023. The platform was unexpectedly put on hold in early 2024 due to our founder's medical leave.
In late 2024, Design Changemakers returned and was reimagined as a virtual gathering place following the founder's co-design experiment. It's expanded beyond learning into a playground for exploration, a space for unconventional convenings and a co-design collective.
