As designers and storytellers, we have a duty to practice responsibility and critical thinking in our craft.

What we make, be it experiences, products, packages, software, or posters, has an impact on people and our environment. We are in a place of extraordinary power to create a better world — and to create things that cause great damage.

We need to be mindful of whose stories we are telling, note our privileges, give voices and autonomy to the powerless, and consider all of our work’s possible impacts.

Here are some resources that I find useful when thinking about my own design practice.

Resources

SUSTAINABle design

Re-nourish
This nonprofit created a project calculator tool, holds oodles of information about systems thinking and design thinking, has published a book, and created a toolkit called “Systems Thinking for the Graphic Designer 101.” Also, includes a very well-thought out series of questions to ask during the design process.

Climate Designers
Resources, networking, chatrooms, and like-minded individuals in all sorts of realms of design working on climate issues.

Mohawk Paper
Mohawk offers many downloadable guides about paper, design, and sustainability, and in-depth sustainability info about their papers. I learned a lot from their Sense and Sustainability publication; it has tons of info on third-party certifications.

A Better Source
”A directory of environmentally conscious resources for planet-loving designers & businesses. Print—Packaging—Branding.”

Waste Not
Search an open-source database of sustainable suppliers of many different products, including stickers, packaging, fabrics, and industry-specific goods.

Diversify design

Where are the Black Designers
Resource, conference, job board, and community for Black designers

Rememory directory
Directory of creatives which highlights work and experiences of black women and non-binary people of the African Diaspora doing the work needed to claim their narratives, gazes and legacies in the global media.

People of Craft
A showcase of creatives of color and their craft in design, advertising, tech, illustration, lettering, art, and more.

Hire Black Female Creatives
Directory of Black & female-identifying creatives in an enormous range of fields.

Black Illustrators
Editorial illustrators, cartoonists, animators and artists for hire.

Decolonize Design