Designlab Community Guidelines

Our community exists to empower and nurture designers on their career journey. This will best happen when our community is active, inclusive, and safe for all members. To achieve this, each of us needs to consistently commit to putting a set of behaviors into practice that promote the environment we want to foster, namely:

I act with empathy

I empathize with the perspectives of others in all our interactions, whether they be students, mentors, alumni, Designlab team members, Group Crit facilitators, or anyone else in our community or network. This makes me encouraging and open-minded in my interactions.
I identify that others may be going through circumstances that are different from my own, and do my best to empathize with their unique situations.

I show respect

I respect the skills, intelligence, background, and integrity of others.
I respect the time of others in the community by showing up promptly to mentor sessions, Group Crits, and any other organized community event and am mindful of their commitments outside of the time they give to me.
I respect that those I work with have multiple priorities and may not have the ability to respond immediately, but they will get back to me in a timely manner.
While I do draw inspiration from the work of others, I respect their intellectual property and will make my work my own.

I am inclusive

I respect diversity, actively challenge my unconscious biases, and look to incorporate diverse perspectives in equitable ways. I encourage others to bring their full selves to Designlab, and value what makes each of us unique.
I value the contributions of others, and listen carefully to the opinions brought to me. Because our different approaches make us stronger, I actively seek out different points of view.

I communicate transparently and thoughtfully

I communicate with intellectual honesty, and am not afraid to express myself.
I keep in mind that a lot of communication in our community is done via written text, and therefore inflection and intention is not always as apparent as when you're speaking face to face.
I choose my words and tone with care in order to be both respectful and inclusive.

I don’t

Use words that make anyone else uncomfortable, including but not limited to profanities, innuendo, slurs, or derogatory language.
Plagiarize or directly copy the work of any other creative, whether they be in the community or not.
Discriminate against or exclude any member of the community for any reason.
Treat any member of the community with disrespect, even in moments of frustration.
Resort to gossip or any other form of indirect communication.
Marginalize any member of the community through the use of derogatory, hostile, negative or condescending microaggressions
Harass any member of the community through words, actions or behaviors.

For the purpose of clarity

Here are some things that might constitute harassment within the Designlab community, please note that this list is not exhaustive:

Deliberative intimidation of another member of the community in any format.
Unwelcome sexual attention or gratuitous sexual images, references or behavior.
Threats of violence or incitement to violence including self harm in any form.
Offensive or unwelcome comments for any reason including on the basis of an individual’s age, gender identity or expression, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion, neuro-diversity or physical appearance.

Here are some things that might constitute microaggressions within the Designlab community, please note that this list is not exhaustive:

Assuming the level of skill or comprehension of any individual or group of individuals based on their age, background, accent or first language.
Referring to an individual in a way that demeans their identity or lifestyle choices.
Dominating the conversation, interrupting, or talking over other community members without valuing their voices or contributions.
Patronizing any member of the community through your choice of words, tone or behavior.
Using “charged” language that has negative associations for any individual, their background, or lifestyle choices.

How to reach out

Our Support and Community teams are here and available to help any community member who has experienced an issue they do not feel comfortable dealing with directly. In more serious circumstances these issues will be referred to our leadership team for resolution. We commit to handling these interactions supportively and empathetically and where warranted, might remove community members who are not respectful of these guidelines from the Designlab community.