what is
equity in design?
Our Design Equity® services can answer that.
Design Call Out: “ Design Equity® services “can be in the same color / static animation from the About Us page
Determined by Design® is the only interior design firm to provide and trademark our Design Equity® services.
Our Design Equity® services are a practice that first expanded our hearts to include ALL people but especially our Black and Brown communities as we continue to expand our design applications by introducing innovative practices, concepts and workshops to our human centered process.
It is a practice of empathy that helps us best represent the people we design for using a thoughtful and intentional interior design process. Spaces with an equitable design concept at the center allow for Radical Hospitality ℠, compassion and a shared community understanding to guide designs that reflect and respect the unique stories of our/the people.
Our Determinators - Interior Designers, Storytellers, Architects, + Creatives are the makers of space + communities. At Determined by Design® our designs are shaped by our core belief well-designed interior spaces are not a luxury for a few but a standard for all! Our why is to champion our Design Equity Services® so every person’s value is uplifted by the spaces they inhabit. This is our guidepost for every project, community, and partner we work with. We design to change lives and represent a community's greatest strengths - history, culture, + diversity.
How it works
We begin with an exploration that guides us to the Equitable Design Concept for each project. Language, Intention and a Prayer are the differentiator of the Determined by Design® process.
Projects are driven by giving a fuck and the Equitable Design Concepts that connect to their community and provide context and depth to our designs. They protect places from being tethered to fleeting trends. Instead, creating spaces for Design Equity Interior Designers (#Determinators) like us that provide spaces for ALL people.
The Land
The Site
The Neighborhood
“We take our time to find a concept. We do the research.”
Creating a design concept
Step 1:
Start with some time-travel
+ Start with the land and indegious story
+ Jump to colonization and when it was settled
+ Understand the contemporary context of that neighborhood
Step 2:
Find the human stories
+ Who are the local businesses?
+ Why is the park named this?
Step 3:
Use research to create an Equitable Design Concept
Our team takes schematic designs with equity gaps and turns them into spaces that build community.
In the original schematic design presented, waiting areas did not allow for intentional communing or make the most of the square footage.
In our re-imagining, we offered a solution that fostered gathering and made it multifunctional– transforming the lobby from a standard service to an amenity.
By integrating designequity™ into the schematic design we increased utility, added pathways for traffic, and nurtured spontaneous community building – all within the limits and needs of our design partners, you?
Intentional seating groups host intimate engagements. A new mezzanine anchors the space and increases square footage.
Our team takes schematic designs with equity gaps and turns them into spaces that build community.
In the original schematic design presented, waiting areas did not allow for intentional communing or make the most of the square footage.
In the original schematic design presented, waiting areas did not allow for intentional communing or make the most of the square footage.
By integrating Design Equity into the schematic design we increased utility, added pathways for traffic, and nurtured spontaneous community building – all within the limits and needs of our design partners.
Intentional seating groups host intimate engagements. A new mezzanine anchors the space and increases square footage.
