Democratizing

Design

The DD initiative

Democratizing Design (DD) is an initiative powered by the UC San Diego Design Lab in partnership with The Design Academy and CETYS Universidad. An official World Design Capital San Diego Tijuana 2024 (WDC2024) impact project, DD envisions a global model to demystify the concept of design, inclusively scale design across professional and social demographics, and enable the power of design for sustainable, accessible, and affordable creative problem-solving to improve quality of life.

the dd JOURNEY

dd kick-off 2023-2024

From June 2023 to December 2024, the Democratizing Design team engaged over 1,275 people from the San Diego Tijuana region and global design network through surveys, interviews, and interactive events. Included in this initial research phase were government and civic leaders from San Diego, Carlsbad, Ensenada, and Tijuana, as well as global partners from the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Philippines, Germany, Singapore, New Zealand, Scandinavia, and South America. The work was coupled with the DD team’s multifaceted community engagement strategy composed of binational co-design roundtables and workshops and an awareness campaign including this DD website (www.ddsdtj.com) and social media platforms. The community engagement strategy has four primary tenets: education about humanity-centered design, a common regional design language, a regional design playbook, and a Democratizing Design Model prototype.

the year of dd 2025

The first phase of research and co-design activities culminated in multiple DD presentations and interactive sessions at the WDC 2024 World Design Policy Conference in November 2024. The DD team officially launched the Year of Democratizing Design in 2025, involving expanded research and community engagement, a case study portfolio, and model refinement. Using a prototype roadmap, the team will apply the DD model within four key sectors: business, civic, education, and creative industries - starting with civic and education sectors and leveraging existing initiatives such as the WDC 2024’s Design to Action Networks (DANs), CETYS's and UC San Diego’s research on Design Just Futures for indigenous and BIPOC populations, and long-standing regional UC San Diego Design Lab alliances and initiatives such as the Design Forward Alliance, Educators Alliance, and Design for San Diego (D4SD).

2023 - 2024

June 2023 Project Launch/ Early Research

Democratizing Design is launched, inspired by the WDC2024 bid.
Summer 2023 Partnerships

UC San Diego Design Lab collaborates with The Design Academy & CETYS University, initiating primary & secondary research with local, regional, and global design experts.
Fall 2023 WDC2024 Impact Project

Democratizing Design is designated as a Youth and Education Impact Project of WDC2024.
Winter 2023/2024 47 Interviews

Interviews completed with local, regional, and global design experts across civic, industry, education, and design sectors.

2024

Spring 2024 WDC2024 Grant

The Design Academy receives a grant from WDC2024 and the City of San Diego, bringing in XWHYZ design studio for visual design.
Summer 2024 Team and Research

Research continues with team synthesis, Value Architect analysis, and ongoing global and civic interviews. Partnerships form with Taiwan Design Research Institute and Philippines Design Center.
Fall 2024 Community Engagement

Interactive co-design roundtables and workshops bring diverse voices together to co-create the "Design Playbook" building on team research.
September 2024 NDE

The DD project was presented at the National Design Encounter in CETYS Ensenada, and workshops with students and professional designers were held to co-create Definitions and Principles.

2024 - 2025

November 2024 Global Model Prototype

A prototype model for democratizing design, the Playbook, and design policy were presented at the WDC2024 Design Policy Conference.
January - April 2025 Synthesis

The DD team conducted Global Model and regional design ecosystem synthesis and iteration based on feedback.
February 2025 Tijuana Innovadora

The DD team introduced the project to Tijuana Innovadora’s leadership and engaged with members of the business sector.
May 2025 TJDW Presentation

The Democratizing Design (DD) project was presented at CECUT, where feedback was gathered on the project’s core definitions, contributing to the alignment of language and shared understanding

2025

May 2025 CETYS Forum of Linked Projects

Junior designer from CETYS university shared his experience collaborating with DD team at the Forum of linked projects at CETYS Universidad Ensenada
May - September 2025 Evaluate / Iterate

The team continued to develop key deliverables and prototypes showcasing DD outcomes including: Project Summary, Research Synthesis and Report, Written Case Studies and podcasts for Carlsbad, CA and Ensenada, MX, an Academic Paper, Ensenada, MZ, Playbook (Definitions, Principles, Framework), AI/HCD Training, and the ddsdtj.com website. Grant applications were developed for future funding.
September 2025 London Congress

WDO World Design Congress in London, UK featuring Michele Morris, Panelist - “Communities, AI and Collective Impact”
August - September 2025 TDRI City Design Power Index

UC San Diego Design Lab and the Democratizing Design team led an effort to engage civic leaders, design professional and associations from San Diego and Tijuana/Ensenada/Mexicali to participate in the Taiwan Design Research Institute’s City Design Power global benchmarking index