5 thoughts on design
My reality is that I have great colleagues who actively use my perspective as a resource.
My reality is that I have great colleagues who actively use my perspective as a resource.
My colleagues come to me for my perspective and I see that as strength. But the real goal is that people learn to put that lens on themselves.
My colleagues come to me for my perspective and I see that as strength. But the real goal is that people learn to put that lens on themselves.
Positionality matters in design. Your background, gender, nationality, marital status, all of it shapes what you see and how you design.
Positionality matters in design. Your background, gender, nationality, marital status, all of it shapes what you see and how you design.
I want to ask the next generation: do you want to be the representation you are missing right now?
I want to ask the next generation: do you want to be the representation you are missing right now?
Social design needs as much diversity as it can get! Connection and trust are a must to get to the real issues, which becomes easier when designers also understand the things that remain unsaid.
Social design needs as much diversity as it can get! Connection and trust are a must to get to the real issues, which becomes easier when designers also understand the things that remain unsaid.
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Misschien een foto dat je aan het werk bent?
Foto van een product?
Misschien een foto dat je aan het werk bent?
Foto van een product?
Misschien een foto dat je aan het werk bent?
Foto van een product?
Discovering (Social) Design
Ayah ended up at Industrial Design at TU/e by coincidence. Creative, social, technical: the combination felt right. The program gave her room to explore, and she used it. A conversation with a fellow design student about social design made everything click. This was exactly what she had given herself the space to find.
Ayah ended up at Industrial Design at TU/e by coincidence. Creative, social, technical: the combination felt right. The program gave her room to explore, and she used it. A conversation with a fellow design student about social design made everything click. This was exactly what she had given herself the space to find.
Who you are is what you see
During her masters she encountered the concept of positionality, through the work of Dr. Lesley Ann-Noel, a Jamaican designer and researcher who applies it to design thinking. The idea: your background, nationality, gender, how you grew up, shapes what you see and what you design. That it came from a researcher like Lesley Ann-Noel who mattered to her too. It is a framework she carries directly into her practice.
During her masters she encountered the concept of positionality, through the work of Dr. Lesley Ann-Noel, a Jamaican designer and researcher who applies it to design thinking. The idea: your background, nationality, gender, how you grew up, shapes what you see and what you design. That it came from a researcher like Lesley Ann-Noel who mattered to her too. It is a framework she carries directly into her practice.
Foto van een boek/framework/ iets anders?
Iets anders, persoonlijks wat je wilt delen?
Foto van een boek/framework/ iets anders?
Iets anders, persoonlijks wat je wilt delen?
Foto van een boek/framework/ iets anders?
Iets anders, persoonlijks wat je wilt delen?
Full context first
Ayah now works as a Social Designer at We Are Social Rebels in Eindhoven, based in an old working-class neighborhood. She is the only designer of color working there. Colleagues come to her deliberately: to enrich their perspective, to sense-check what will or will not land in a given community, to make more considered choices. She sees this as strength. But the ambition reaches further. She hopes people will eventually put that lens on themselves, without needing to ask her first.
Before she makes any decision, she wants the full context. All sides of the story, all perspectives that belong in it. That curiosity carries her into conversations with people she has never met. Injustice is something she cannot ignore, she was also active in her local city council to fight is from the inside. However, for Ayah, social design is a response to that: a belief that the responsibility for social challenges is shared and that creative thinking is one of the ways to meet it.
Ayah now works as a Social Designer at We Are Social Rebels in Eindhoven, based in an old working-class neighborhood. She is the only designer of color working there. Colleagues come to her deliberately: to enrich their perspective, to sense-check what will or will not land in a given community, to make more considered choices. She sees this as strength. But the ambition reaches further. She hopes people will eventually put that lens on themselves, without needing to ask her first.
Before she makes any decision, she wants the full context. All sides of the story, all perspectives that belong in it. That curiosity carries her into conversations with people she has never met. Injustice is something she cannot ignore, she was also active in her local city council to fight is from the inside. However, for Ayah, social design is a response to that: a belief that the responsibility for social challenges is shared and that creative thinking is one of the ways to meet it.
Beyond her own position
That is not my reality, how hard I have it." The team around her is warm, engaged, and actively working on being deliberate about using diverse perspectives as an asset. That is the frame she works from.
She argues that social design needs as much diversity as it can get. For example, it has relatively few male designers and even less male designers of color. For some projects that is actually a problem. Certain conversations open differently depending on who starts them. A connection and trust are needed to get to the real issues, that becomes easier to share with people when designers also understand the things that remain unsaid. Knowing that, and designing around it, is part of the work too.
The question she puts to the next generation is direct: do you want to be the representation you are currently missing? Do you want the space to make change?
That is not my reality, how hard I have it." The team around her is warm, engaged, and actively working on being deliberate about using diverse perspectives as an asset. That is the frame she works from.
She argues that social design needs as much diversity as it can get. For example, it has relatively few male designers and even less male designers of color. For some projects that is actually a problem. Certain conversations open differently depending on who starts them. A connection and trust are needed to get to the real issues, that becomes easier to share with people when designers also understand the things that remain unsaid. Knowing that, and designing around it, is part of the work too.
The question she puts to the next generation is direct: do you want to be the representation you are currently missing? Do you want the space to make change?
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DESIGNERS IN FULL COLOR all rights reserved 2026
DESIGNERS IN FULL COLOR all rights reserved 2026
DESIGNERS IN FULL COLOR all rights reserved 2026