Introducing New Board Member

CoDesign Collaborative is pleased to welcome Melissa Casburn to the Board!

Join us in welcoming Melissa Casburn to the CoDesign Collaborative Board!

Melissa has been a member of Portland’s creative class for 20 years, leading human-centered research and experience design for local digital agencies and software companies, and volunteering extensively with the regional arts community. She currently serves as the VP of Design for Coforma, a DC-based agency that works with the government and the private sector to craft creative digital solutions and build technology products that improve people’s lives.

Past roles include Senior Director of User Experience for Puppet, a software configuration automation tool company, and Board President for the Portland Lesbian Choir. Melissa co-founded SOAK, the Portland Regional Burn, and produced the event for several years. She holds a BA in Clothing & Textile Design and an MBA from University of Oregon, and is pursuing a certificate in Surface Design from Otis College of Art & Design.

Melissa shares, “Design is the application of intent to the creation of any object, product, service, speech…of anything, really. This means everyone is capable of being a designer. We don’t want our society formed by accident, or by forces that intend to marginalize or oppress. Helping people practice human-centered design principles and techniques — whether or not they’re working as designers — can help shape intent toward positive social change and uncover and prevent unintended (or intended!) harms.”

Melissa was the Guest Editor of the first issue of our new magazine, Unfold. That experience inspired her to join the board: “It’s clear that my values are deeply aligned with those of the organization, which was foundational to my decision to join. I’m particularly excited about CoDesign Collaborative because it has both national and local reach, giving us the opportunity to tap into so many different experiences and ideas to build community and momentum here in Portland, OR.”

Members of the Board of Directors are experts in CoDesign Collaborative’s impact areas and design fields. In alignment with Staff and Council, they govern the organization, set strategic priorities, and implement programs, while ensuring adequate resources and strong community are available to accomplish the organization’s mission.

Co-Design The World You Want to Live In

Join our community of 10K+ designers and creative problem solvers motivated by designing for a better tomorrow. All annual (non-recurring) memberships and/or donations at the $60 level or above will get a CoDesign Collaborative designed tote bag!

Photo: Inclusive Design Stories, San Francisco, May 2024

This holiday season, we invite you to join and/or support our community of 10K+ designers, design enthusiasts, and creative problem solvers, all motivated by design for social good. Through December, all annual memberships (not recurring) or donations at the $60 level or above will receive a new CoDesign Collaborative designed tote bag! If you are already a member, please renew early now to receive this benefit.

All Paid Memberships include:

• Subscription to Unfold, the biannual magazine on design impact
• Weekly design impact inspiration through the e-newsletter
• Invitations to publication launch events
• Member-priced tickets to special events and Field Trips
• FREE tickets to design-impact talks and community meet-ups
• NEW Priority and discounted registration for professional development workshops
• NEW participate in Design Sprints serving local non-profits (BOS)
• NEW Access to the Deep Dive, with content specially-curated for Members
• Recognition in the Annual Impact Report
• A CoDesign Collaborative designed tote bag (through January 1!)

A Year In Review | Highlights:
Thank you to our community for celebrating design and collaboration!

From Our Founder

A look back at Design Museum Everywhere’s history and impact and path forward as CoDesign Collaborative

Photo: Sam and Derek at a Designing a Difference Workshop

What a fantastic time for Design Museum Everywhere — now: CoDesign Collaborative! When Derek Cascio and I started this organization 15 years ago with a dedicated team of volunteers and advisors, some key moments and decisions put the organization on a path towards something the current team can now make incredibly real — think, pivoting to be a museum without a building, intentionally collaborating closely with the design community, and constantly listening and adapting to the changing needs of our community overall. That culture of entrepreneurship and constant evolution continues today. It is evident as the CoDesign Collaborative team, led by the amazing Maria Villafranca, embarks on this next chapter of design impact.

As Maria shared the vision for this next chapter with me and how the organization can catalyze real, direct impact in the world through design, I couldn’t help but think of a program Derek and I launched back in 2011 called Designing a Difference. We partnered with a nonprofit called smallbean, whose mission involved teaching computer skills to children and adults in rural Tanzania. They prototyped a modular, solar-powered computer lab to set up in schools and community centers — the problem was it was a mess of wires and modules that required technical know-how to set up and maintain. Through our partnership, we recruited designers in the community who wanted to give back and support smallbean’s mission. Derek served as our design director, and together, the ad hoc, volunteer team designed, prototyped, tested, and delivered a human-centered solution for smallbean to amplify their impact in the world. 

When I think of what CoDesign Collaborative can do as a convener and focuser of design talent towards real-world needs and challenges, I think about this team taking something like Designing a Difference to a whole new level. And that is so exciting. 

Photo: One of the smallbean/Design Museum Boston designs

This team and this board have shown time and time again that what makes the Design Museum special is not our exhibitions, events, or publications — even though those are all top notch — it is our unique ability to connect, listen, collaborate, and share openly and generously. Now, as CoDesign Collaborative, with a focused mission and approach, they can take the impact of this organization and this community to that next level. 

This is the next chapter, and I’m so proud of the team, the board, and everyone involved in this evolution. This is how designers make an impact together.

— Sam Aquillano

Field Report

Exploring Innovation at the Autodesk Technology Center in Boston

Wednesday, July 24, 2024
Seaport Innovation District, Boston

Nestled in Boston’s dynamic Seaport Innovation District, the Autodesk Technology Center stands as a beacon of innovation, bridging the gap between digital design and physical fabrication. Recently, CoDesign Collaborative had the opportunity to explore this cutting-edge facility, and we were left in awe of the possibilities it unlocks for designers, engineers, and researchers alike.

A Peek into the Future of Fabrication
Upon entering the center, we were immediately struck by the vast array of advanced fabrication equipment. From large-format fabrication tools to a wide range of robotics, the facility is a playground for anyone interested in pushing the boundaries of manufacturing. The composites lab and additive workshops, featuring both polymer and metal 3D printing, are particularly impressive, highlighting Autodesk’s commitment to leading the charge in material science and fabrication techniques.

Digital Meets Physical
One of the most exciting aspects of the Autodesk Technology Center is how seamlessly it integrates digital design and physical fabrication. Autodesk’s approach to de-risking the future through digital design, simulation, and validation is on full display here. This integration allows for rapid prototyping and iterative design, enabling teams to refine their projects efficiently and effectively.

Expansive Project Space
The center also features an expansive project space designed to accommodate building-scale construction projects. This area provides a real-world environment for testing and validating large designs, which is crucial for teams working on speculative and industry-applied projects. It’s a space where innovation can truly come to life, free from the constraints typically found in smaller labs.

Sophia Zelov: A Driving Force
A key player in the success of the Autodesk Technology Center is Sophia Zelov, who leads the Relationship Development Team for Autodesk Research. Sophia and her team are responsible for identifying and building strategic partnerships that align with Autodesk Research’s goals. With a background as an accomplished architect and experience leading large-scale projects like the Vietnamese-German University Campus in Ho Chi Minh City, Sophia brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the center. Her leadership ensures that these partnerships are not only formed but also maintained and strengthened over time, fostering a collaborative and innovative environment.

The Fellowship Program: Fostering Creativity
The Autodesk Technology Center’s fellowship program is another cornerstone of its mission to advance the future of design and making. This program provides fellows with access to the center’s resources, allowing them to explore new technologies and methodologies. Fellows are selected based on their potential to contribute to the center’s goals and their alignment with Autodesk’s vision for the future. The program supports a diverse range of projects, from speculative research to industry-applied work, creating a fertile ground for creativity and experimentation.

Conclusion: A Hub of Innovation
CoDesign Collaborative’s visit to the Autodesk Technology Center in Boston was both inspiring and enlightening. The center’s commitment to integrating emerging technologies in design and manufacturing is evident in its state-of-the-art facilities and the innovative projects being developed. With the leadership of Sophia Zelov and the support of the fellowship program, the center is a model for future research and development initiatives. As we continue to explore the potential of emerging technologies, the Autodesk Technology Center remains at the forefront of innovation, shaping the future of design and making.

Stay tuned for more insights and updates from CoDesign Collaborative’s explorations in the world of emerging technologies! The Autodesk Technology Center Tour was organized as a Field Trip, CoDesign Collaborative’s intimate, design-curious explorations in Boston, MA, Portland, OR and the Bay Area.

If you have a recommendation for a Field Trip or are interested in hosting the CoDesign Collaborative community in your space, send us a note at info@codesigncollaborative.org. We look forward to collaborating with you!

—
Josephine Holmboe
Director of Design Impact & Board Member
CoDesign Collaborative

High School Design Challenge Cohort Announcement

Congratulations to the High School Design Challenge Students!

CoDesign Collaborative is proud to announce our cohort of high school student participants for our Inclusive Design Challenge. This was a competitive application process that offered six paid educational opportunities for local high school students interested in Inclusive Design from all backgrounds. The objective of the design challenge was to encourage future designers to think creatively about how to design and problem-solve through an inclusive lens. Led by design educators, Daniel Noh and Rosa Weinberg, this program encouraged students to create prototypes using an inclusive design process.

Meet the 2024 Student Cohort:

Elisha is a senior at Kipp Academy Lynn Collegiate. Her favorite subjects are AP Calculus & AP Studio Art and she hopes to use her creativity in the future by utilizing her design skills in computer science for scientific illustrations.

Luke is a senior at Lynn English High. His favorite subject is history and he is an artist and activist working to make people happy through art.

Musie is a sophomore at Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School and his favorite class is Algebra. His hobbies include video games, reading, and making things out of origami paper. His dream is to get into a good college, make his parents proud, and live a comfortable life.

Mellanie is a junior at the Commonwealth School and her favorite subjects are art and physics. In the future, she hopes to become a mechanical engineer and open up a makerspace in her neighborhood that is affordable or free for all people.

Sarah is a senior at Brookline High School and her favorite subjects are ceramics and engineering innovative design. She aspires to become an architect working at the intersection of environmental psychology.

Giselle is a Junior at Margarita Muniz Academy and her favorite classes are math and music technology. She is inspired to use art as a tool for equity and inclusivity to make our world a better place.

Join us for the Final Presentation!

CoDesign Collaborative invites you to join us in commemorating our cohort of students for the High School Inclusive Design Challenge on Wednesday, May 1, 6-8 pm ET at The Foundry in Cambridge, MA. This final presentation will showcase the process and prototypes created by the students. Celebrate inclusive design and see CoDesign Collaborative’s youth programs in action.

Location: The Foundry
101 Rogers St, Cambridge, MA 02142

Introducing New Council Member

CoDesign Collaborative is pleased to welcome Mike Mooney to the Council!

Join us in welcoming Mike Mooney to the CoDesign Collaborative Council!

Mike joins the council with over 25 years of experience as a brand strategist working closely with product development teams. Mike is a writer and a strategist who operates at the intersection of brand strategy, verbal branding, and experience design to elevate brand storytelling.

As a writer and principal at Meant, Mike gives voice to brand, marketing and design strategies in ways that help make hard things simpler, new things more engaging, and nuanced things more discoverable. His work building communications platforms for new-to-the-world products, services and technologies includes engagements with market leaders and challengers, as well as early and growth-stage startups, across the healthcare, consumer electronics, industrial, consumer, high-tech and other sectors.

Mike shares:

“As an evangelist for the transformative power of design I’m thrilled to join kindred spirits on the CoDesign Collaborative team in advancing this vision.”

Council members are experts in the Museum’s impact areas and design fields. They advise and support the Staff and Board of Directors, while ensuring that adequate resources and a strong community are available to accomplish the Museum’s mission.

Design Impact: A Year in Review

Reflecting on impactful projects from 2023

To close the year, we are reflecting on CoDesign Collaborative’s design impact through impressive programming by sharing stories and highlights from 2023 while raising critical support for our education initiatives. As we wrap up the year, we are encouraging donations with a goal of raising $2,500 for the CoDesign Collaborative Education Fund that will directly support design-education engagement for students in the new year. We hope you will consider participating by contributing to this campaign and our mission to inspire social change through the transformative power of design!

2023 Programmatic Highlights

1. New Mission Statement: At the beginning of the year, we defined a new mission statement. Inspire social change through the transformative power of design. The new mission statement helped us to sharpen our focus on design that improves people’s lives, and ultimately, our world.
2. How to be a Creative Abolitionist in PDX: Our first event of the year, was hosted at PNCA in Portland, OR to celebrate the upcoming We Design Issue of Design Museum Magazine. This living room style event featured a conversation with longtime creative abolitionists Angela Medlin and Abibat Durosimi and was moderated by Jocelyn Rice.
3. We Design Issue Launch Party: To celebrate the official release of The We Design Issue, we hosted a launch party for We Designers at Nuvu Innovation School.The We Design Issue was a special publication featuring a selection of design stories from We Design, a series of programs by and for women, gender-expansive, and BIPOC designers.
4. Workplace Innovation Summit: In March, we organized an inspiring event that was designed to foster community among design change makers and give attendees the tools to promote social, cultural, and environmental impact across industries. The program covered high-level topics including: culture, impact, and the built environment — with stories, interactive workshops, and experiences, designed to inspire and demonstrate meaningful change.
5. Bespoke Bodies at WWI Museum: We were honored to loan the Bespoke Bodies: The Design and Craft of Prosthetics exhibition to The National World War I Museum and Memorial. The exhibition explores the past, present, and future of prosthetic design including objects from the WWI Museum’s collection of artifacts from the Great War – a pivotal time in the field of prosthetics. The exhibition is on view through April of 2024.
6. Common Space Issue Launch Party in Bay Area: To celebrate the release of The Common Space Issue of Design Museum Magazine, we hosted a Design Museum Mornings in the Bay Area. During the event, the speakers brought their unique perspectives to how common spaces – ranging from parks, hospitals, and educational environments – are currently designed, are informed by their use, and when cultivated with intention, can fulfill people’s needs for reflection and community.
7. Design Together Activity-Origami Heart Garland: The Origami Heart Garland is a design together activity that was created in partnership with artist, Zara Woodhead, to teach children to explore their emotions. Through Design Together, families can explore the design process with a series of at-home activities for learners of any age. These activities are supported by the CoDesign Collaborative Education Fund!
8. Nuvu Student Led Exhibition and DMM: In October and November, we partnered with Nuvu Innovation School students to understand the importance of designing and activating public spaces celebrating LGBTQ+ identities. After hearing from Boston-based artists, curators, and designers, students developed a Youth Mixer and Interactive Art Exhibition. Each project was a fun and thoughtful exploration of how to celebrate their identities and queer identities, in an accessible and playful way.
9. Sappi Ideas That Matter Grant Award Recipients: The grant supports the release of our upcoming Inclusive Design Issue of Design Museum Magazine. With this project, we aim to bring awareness to the diversity of human experience and to the importance of inclusive design as a practice and approach. We are proud to be among the Sappi award recipients!
10. Design for Impact Summit at Boston College: Last month we participated in the ACC-ALN Design for ImpACCt (DFI) Summit hosted by Boston College! At this event, we presented on We Design and design careers while sharing copies of the We Design Issue of Design Museum Magazine with students. It’s always rewarding sharing our work with future designers!

As we look to the year ahead, the CoDesign Collaborative team is grateful for the incredible impact our community has supported this year—centering Disability Justice and bringing Bespoke Bodies to a national audience, connecting students to design through workshops, encouraging young learners to explore empathy through Design Together, unpacking and understanding Common Space and so much more!

Announcement: Check Out Our New Job Board

Post a job and expand your reach!

Check out the job board on our website to get matched with the ideal candidate or find your next opportunity!

When you post your job with CoDesign Everywhere, it is instantly distributed across the prestigious and targeted design websites that make up our Design Employment Network including a collection of the most prestigious names in the Design World.

• Target the most qualified, creative candidates and add a distinct strategic advantage to your recruitment efforts.
• $295 per posting
• Sent to our partner’s mailing list of more than 30,000 members
• Promoted to our partner’s social media channels
• Posts are online for 90 days
• Edit and manage your job at any time

Introducing New Council Member

CoDesign Collaborative is pleased to welcome Kris Lonergan to the Council!

Join us in welcoming Kris Lonergan to the CoDesign Collaborative Council!

Kris joins the council with over two decades of experience as an accomplished leader in the design space, blending industrial and fashion design to fuel innovation at the intersection of softgoods and hardgoods. Over the course of her career working with global brands like Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Coach, and Dorel, she has excelled as a brand champion, prioritizing innovation and consumer engagement. Her true passion lies in exploring whitespaces, unlocking the boundless potential in products and processes, and seamlessly integrating softgoods into the broader world of design. Kris’ commitment to pushing boundaries and discovering new possibilities drives her relentless pursuit of excellence in all aspects of design. 

Kris shares:

“I’m thrilled to join the CoDesign Collaborative council! Their mission to democratize design and foster inclusivity resonates with me and is reassuring amidst the challenges of global discord. I’m excited about future projects to champion design and promote further representation within the industry. Looking forward to collaborating with you all!”

Council members are experts in the Museum’s impact areas and design fields. They advise and support the Staff and Board of Directors, while ensuring that adequate resources and a strong community are available to accomplish the Museum’s mission.

CoDesign Collaborative Awarded Sappi Ideas that Matter Grant

We are pleased to announce that we have been awarded a 2023 grant from Sappi’s Ideas that Matter to support an upcoming Inclusive Design project including a special issue of Design Museum Magazine. 

With this project, CoDesign Collaborative aims to bring awareness to the diversity of human experience and to the importance of inclusive design as a practice and approach for nondesigners and designers. Aligning with a publication focused on inclusive design, the CoDesign Collaborative will create a “Design Together” activity—a hands-on, design-focused learning activity for kids and families—that will be included within the publication, available online and distributed through community partnerships in Boston, MA and Portland, OR. CoDesign Collaborative will also engage teens through an applied design challenge focused on inclusive design.

Sappi’s Ideas that Matter grant program provides funds for creative professionals working with a non-profit to produce projects for the causes that they care about most. By funding programs designed to make a positive change in our society, Sappi has helped over 500 grant winners bring their vision, strategic thinking and innovative print and communications programs to life. This year, recipients’ projects addressed a range of issues, including restorative justice, diversity and inclusion, intergenerational engagement, education, urban segregation and community building. Since 2021, entrants have been asked to align their submissions with at least one of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ensuring that grant applications are focused on critical and timely global societal concerns.

By helping to support nonprofits—that are tackling these important issues through the impact of great design and the power of print on paper—the seven selected grants will make a difference in lives and communities around the world. We’re proud to be among the Sappi 2023 Ideas that Matter grant recipients!

Click here, for more information on projects included in the Sappi Ideas That Matter grant announcement.