Year in Review

A look back at CoDesign Collaborative in 2020

It’s been a big year for CoDesign Everywhere, utilizing our nomadic structure and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic by creating new programs, bringing the We Design exhibition online, starting the Design is Everywhere podcast, and launching a Diversity in Action training program. We are now more true to our mission than ever before: CoDesign Collaborative brings the transformative power of design everywhere.

Organizational Growth

Thank you to everyone who participated, contributed, and designed with CoDesign Collaborative in 2020. This was a year of growth and gratitude in many ways. From new programs for our virtual reality to new staff members, we didn’t let 2020 stop us.

Growing Team

This year, we were able to grow the team working to make everything at CoDesign Collaborative happen, and we could not do it without each and every one of them. We were able to increase our numbers for our Board of Directors and Advisory Council Members by 10 percent, we welcomed interns and apprentices from 10 different states to our team, and we added three new full-time staff members working in areas including marketing, our newly online We Design initiative, and our podcast Design is Everywhere.

Finances

Without traditional overhead, like a building, CoDesign Collaborative invests primarily in our team and in our programming. Particularly in a time like 2020, this model allows us to continue delivering on our mission. The overwhelming majority of our funds were put into the people that help to bring our expanding programming to life, affirming our commitment to continuing to share valuable information, programming and resources with our community.

The graphic above shows the breakdown of our revenue for 2020. Our most notable areas of funds received included program sponsorship, institutional grants, memberships, and individual donors, in descending order.

New Staff

Journee Harris

We Design Program Coordinator

Maria Villafranca

Director of Marketing

Amor Yates

Podcast Writer & Producer

The graphic above shows a breakdown of how our expenses were apportioned in 2020. Without the traditional overhead of a physical location for CoDesign, we spent the majority of our resources on our team members, who worked throughout 2020 to transition our programming to a digital format that allowed us to continue sharing design stories and innovation even when we could not connect with the DM community in person.

The Power of Design

Exhibitions

CoDesign Collaborative toured the We Design and Bespoke Bodies exhibitions to 5 venues across the U.S. and online! Our exhibitions are always free and open to the public, in places people already go.

CoDesign Collaborative is Everywhere

Despite the world slowing down, membership at CoDesign Collaborative expanded globally. With more virtual events and ways to connect, our community comes from all over the world to celebrate design. Members are able to attend events for free and receive Design Museum Magazine. 10,000 copies of Design Museum Magazine were read in 44 states and 19 countries, and more than 100 students and recent graduates were provided with free membership to CoDesign Collaborative. Additionally, our events were attended by over 3,207 people around the world, and our podcast, Design is Everywhere, was downloaded 21,000 times. Design is Everywhere is available for free wherever you stream your podcasts.

This graphic shows the U.S. states and countries that our CoDesign Collaborative members live. From Canada, to Brazil, to Italy, and Australia, CoDesign Collaborative is proud to engage with a global community.

This graphic breaks down the different content areas and fields of expertise that we showcased in our programming, including health and wellness; diversity, equity, and inclusion; education; workplace innovation; and sustainability; in descending order. We also engaged with experts in the fields of architecture and product design, business, healthcare, and technology, to name a few.

This graph breaks down the content areas that we showcased in our programming, including health and wellness; diversity, equity, and inclusion; education; and workplace innovation; in descending order. We also engaged with experts in many fields!

CoDesign Collaborative has been a consistent source of thought-provoking and inspiring ideas for me. Even throughout 2020, the opportunities for learning, gathering in community, and making connections has continued… even increased! I’m grateful to have this wonderful spark of light in the world.

– Amy Winterowd, VP of Client Solutions, JE Dunn

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

We Design: People. Practice. Progress.

We Design brings together creatives from a wide array of backgrounds to examine and celebrate a range of career paths, applications, and impact areas in design. The collaborative, evolving exhibition features career stories showcasing how people have forged their unique paths into different creative professions, emphasizing the need for more racial and gender diversity in design and innovation fields. Over 32 creative career options have been spotlighted in the online exhibit, with resources and interactive media that allows readers to continue learning about careers that use design.

Bespoke Bodies: The Design & Craft of Prosthetics

Bespoke Bodies features the stories of 44 individuals and companies making change in the lives of people living with limb loss and limb difference, plus 7 original accompanying essays.

Black Lives Matter and Anti-Racism Resources

Our team worked to aggregate 106 anti-racism resources spanning design specific and general self education books, podcasts, and organizations to follow, hosted on a continuously updated webpage.

Diversity in Action

We also launched a series of courses—Diversity in Action—for individuals and organizations to live up to their diversity, equity, and inclusion statements, by designing a culture of diversity in action. Over 300 work hours were dedicated to consistent anti-racism work, diversity, equity, and inclusion training, and facilitated conversations across the entire CoDesign Collaborative team.

This design exhibition is taking a head-on look at representation… CoDesign Collaborative organizes an important show.

– Architectural Digest

Youth Education

Design Together

Our education team led 11+ hours of Design Together activities, we also created an online catalog of activities that learners can do alone or with family and friends to build design skills, geared for learners from ages 7 and up.

Exhibition Conversation Cards

As an accompaniment to the We Design program, we’ve designed a deck of 55 interactive cards to teach young people what’s possible in the design field.

Neighborhood Design Project*

60 teens worked with CoDesign Collaborative in 2020 through the Neighborhood Design Project, learning from and making relationships with 13 local designers to use the design process to self-identify problems and create change in their own communities. Over $18,000 was paid to the teens for their design work.

*Includes Summer Design Project, our virtual version of Neighborhood Design Project (NDP), held in Summer 2020 to offer a continuation of where NDP left off due to interruptions from COVID-19.

I’m excited to learn from this younger generation about the type of issues that they care about and how they use design to try and tackle some of that.