Design Social Change

Take Action, Work toward Equity, and Challenge the Status Quo

By: Lesley-Ann Noel, Stanford d.school

Narrated by: Lesley-Ann Noel, Scott Doorley

Discover design strategies for using your own unique social identities and experiences as inspiration to challenge the status quo and create the kind of lasting change that leads to greater equity and social justice, from Stanford University's d.school.

Who are you? What motivates you as a changemaker? What forces are preventing you (and others) from thriving? These questions are essential to the work of creating social change, and they are exactly what Design Social Change asks you to explore.

Designer and design educator Lesley-Ann Noel shares the essential design strategies for making a lasting impact. This work starts with knowing yourself and builds outward into making change in your community and the larger world. Design Social Change gives you tools to tailor your approach to design, taking into account your history, personality, ethics, and goals for a better future.

The strategies for change are based on equity and fairness, understanding your own role in these systems of both justice and inequity. These strategies demonstrate how to use anger, joy, and empathy as inspiration for understanding what people need to thrive. Using the tools of design, these new approaches will help you craft projects that are relevant to you and create more just, equitable futures. The time is always right to work toward a fair and just society.


* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF that contains the Positionality Wheel, Emotion Wheel, and the Recommendations for Further Reading from the book.

Critic reviews

“With our growing understanding of the role that art, design, and cultural strategy can play in buttressing base-building and community organizing, Design Social Change provides indispensable tools, tips, and resources for creating a more healthy, just, and sustainable world.”—Bryant Terry, award-winning author, artist, and editor in chief of 4 Color Books

“Design Social Change by Lesley-Ann Noel provides a comprehensive, deeply nuanced, and much-needed guidebook to identifying forces of oppression, addressing injustice of all kinds, and creating equitable futures. Noel’s unique global perspective—grounded in her personal experiences—and her thoughtfully considered prompts, tools, and processes will inspire designers and non-designers alike who want to make the world a better place for all.”—Bruce Mau, designer, author, educator, and artist

Quite good process

The process outlined made sense, was approachable, and was smartly outlined. Good book. I would enjoy being a participant if my facilitator used this approach.