You have the power to shape your industry. Together we can change design to be representative of the world it serves.
While we understand that change takes time, there are lots of things you can do today. Here are practical tips and resources to get you started.
Recognise your privilege
Hard work is never the whole story – many people do not share the advantages you have likely had.
Acknowledge that, no matter how hard you have worked to get where you are, others facing structural discrimination have to work harder.
☞ Talk About Privilege at Work (Harvard Business Review)
☞ Disability inclusion at work: the many not the few (LSE)
☞ Gender Pay Gap (Architects' Journal)
Keep learning
Making yourself better informed benefits everyone.
Listen to the experiences of underrepresented people, read widely, confront your biases and fill the gaps in your knowledge and vocabulary. Do not expect others to do this work for you.
☞ The harmful ableist language you unknowingly use (BBC)
☞ How much does discrimination hurt the economy? (Freakonomics Radio)
See your liberation in that of others
Inequity is not someone else’s cause to support; it’s your problem to solve.
Move away from the concept of allyship rooted in charity and support from a distance; understand that we are all, in different ways, part of the same struggle and no one will be free until we are all free.
☞ 6 Ways to Move from Allyship to Activism (Harvard Business Review)
Amplify the voices of others
Underrepresented talent must be championed. Whenever you can, champion it.
Actively share the work of unsung creatives, thinkers and brands on social media, in meetings and at dinner tables.
☞ 7 Inspiring Disability Activists Paving Our Way To Inclusive Design (Zillion Designs)
☞ Disability Power 100 (The Shaw Trust)
Use your influence
Consider who, where and what you are. What can you, uniquely, do to change the status quo?
Employ and commission people from a diverse range of backgrounds, genders and abilities. If you don’t have commissioning power, advocate for underrepresented people to be involved in your projects. Ensure they are compensated fairly.
Refuse one-dimensionality
Don’t wait for someone else to speak up. If you don’t, who will?
Decline to be involved in projects and panels that are not representative. Let the organisers know why you do not want to participate and point them towards qualified people from underrepresented backgrounds. We hope our resources can help.
☞ Women make up over half of the design industry - so why are there so few at the top? (Eye on Design)
Stand aside
Don’t be an obstruction when there’s talent that deserves a platform.
If you are asked to work on a project where a person from an underrepresented background would be better suited, actively make way for them.
Welcome everyone
Accessibility features and adaptations should not be a ‘nice to have’. If it costs, pay.
Hire BSL interpreters, share information on accessibility for events, make sure your website is triple A rated, add subtitles to all film content, invite experts to review accessibility in your workplace.
☞ Interpreters of Colour Network
Mentor the next generation
Whatever you do, whoever you are, you have knowledge and skills that can help someone.
Inspire and support young people to join the creative industries through programmes like Creative Mentor Network and Creative Access. Share your skills, knowledge and contacts.
Recruit more diversely
Conventional recruitment practices recruit conventional candidates.
Collaborate with partner organisations such as The Other Box to ensure that you are recruiting as diversely as possible. Promote your vacancies on our Jobs Board, and give full transparency on salaries.