Issue #1: Principles for Design Justice

Principles for Design Justice is an 11-page zine. The zine (#1 of 5) was inspired by session entitled “Generating Shared Principles for Design Justice” that took place at the 2015 Allied Media Conference where participants (who identified as designers, artists, technologists, all of the above, and none of the above) hoped to start shaping a shared definition of “design justice.” They wanted to distinguish design justice from design with good intentions, which can be harmful, exclusionary, and can perpetuate the systems and structures that give rise to the need for design interventions in the first place. The zine is written and edited by Una Lee, Nontsikelelo Mutiti, Carlos Garcia, and Wes Taylor and designed by Nontsikelelo Mutiti and Alexander Chamorro.

This session and conversations that followed, ultimately gave rise to the Design Justice Network (DJN), an Allied Media Projects sponsored project that challenges the ways that design and designers can harm those who are marginalized by systems of power. Learn more about DJN.