Who we are

Design for Social Change is a small, nomadic design studio rooted in the belief that design can care for people and create space for more just futures.

The studio’s origins trace back to afternoons spent tutoring inside a prison during college, working one-on-one with incarcerated students, listening to their stories, their goals, and the barriers they faced. One student we worked with for months was released while we were still in school. He walked out with no housing, no job, no safety net—and that experience shifted the course of our work.

Since then, our practice has grown into landscape architecture, storytelling, and community-centered design, grounded in a belief that change starts in relationships, in small moments of care, and in standing with people who’ve been left out of systems that were never built for them in the first place.

Design for Social Change supports community-based work through design, education, and storytelling. The work centers dignity, safety, access, and collective agency, with a special focus on uplifting people impacted by incarceration, displacement, and disinvestment.

We are nomadic and collaborative, working alongside partners across cultures and geographies. We bring a strong focus on design justice, storytelling, and cultural humility to every project.

We’re not a traditional firm. We’re small, flexible, and constantly learning. Our goal is to listen deeply, move with intention, and stay accountable to the people and places we work with. We believe real change is local, relational, and rooted in care.