I believe in Design rooted in community.

I believe that design should be fundamentally driven by the people - not designers. Design should come from a need expressed by the people who it will affect and used to benefit all those who it might affect.

More about me

I’m originally from Arkansas and moved to Chicago for my undergraduate degree where I studied at Northwestern for mechanical engineering. I’ve always been curious about how things worked and engineering was my best excuse to take stuff apart and find out.

I then decided to pursue my Masters in design where I graduated in Spring 2024. I’m now looking to apply my skills as an engineer and designer in the social impact sector.

If you’re looking for topics to converse with me, some of my favorite topics are:

  1. Anything art related (let’s get creative)

  2. The effects of technology on our sense of self and what it means to be human today

  3. Music and music festivals

  4. Pets - pictures required

Mentions:

FAQ:

Why do you say “not designers”?

I believe that approaching projects purely from a traditional “designer” mindset, leads you to missing out on what is in front of you. Oftentimes, the label “designer” comes with the assumption that they know best. This label also creates power imbalances between those labeled “designer” and others which then turns into “those who know” and “those who don’t”. If we approach projects with the assumption that the designer knows better than the people they are designing for, that is how we end up with flawed systems, unused products and crumbling brands. There is a responsibility on the designer to take the information they have in front of them and make sense of it but this shouldn’t be a solo endeavor. To complete the puzzle in front of you, you need all the pieces. You need all the people involved that can help create well developed designs, especially the people who usually aren’t asked to join.

Why do we need community?

I throw the word “community” out there a lot but what does it mean to have community and why is it important? Community has strong ties to identity and a sense of belonging. A lot of us are members of multiple communities simultaneously whether they’re big or small. These communities fulfill a need that every person has within them to connect with others and with themselves. When we are part of a community we understand ourselves better. We are saying that “this is a part of me”. When we talk about wanting to bring about social change, we need to understand how these identities we claim play a part. As expressed by Toby Lowe, “Community is an important concept for social change because it helps us to see that social change requires a change in some of the most important stories we tell ourselves. Social change requires that we rewrite our communal narratives. Social change is change in community.”

Why? why? Why?

Exactly! One of the reasons why I fell in love with research is because it scratches the itch I have to know more. Why are things the way they are? Why do people do things that way? Why should anyone care? Being able to set off to solve these questions is how we uncover what makes people tick. It's how we create sustainable designs that can withstand the changing current of time. It’s how we bring about the change we want to see. Questions lead to answers and answers lead to results.