Seeds of Transformation
An Interactive Zine Exploring My Design Principles, Inspired bt Community Wisdom
Visual Communications | Graphic Design | Print Design
Translating my personal design philosophy for diverse audiences and non-designers, this interactive zine emerged from a graduate seminar challenge on developing a "design mind." The assignment pushed students to distill their unique perspectives on design practice into an accessible storytelling format.
Course: Design Minds Seminar, Carnegie Mellon University
Professor: Jonathan Chapman
Team: Solo Project
Role: Copywriting, Graphic Design, Print Design, Strategy
Tools: InDesign, Illustrator, Figma
Duration: 4 Weeks
Design Challenge
Create a zine that explains your unique design mind. Ensure that it can be understood by anyone who picks it up. Distill your concept and incorporate what you have learned throughout the semester.
This challenge represents a common need in design: the ability to distill and translate information into a story that can be comprehended at multiple levels. The biggest challenge for me was to figure out what story I wanted to tell.
Concept
Seeds of Transformation. A foldable, flippable zine that invites readers into my design worldview. The reader flips through this accordion zine to read the story before opening up the paper and flipping it over to see the “seed bank,” a collection of wisdom from the co-design and transformative justice community.
This isn’t just a zine. It’s a vessel for growth, a curated collection of ideas and influences that have shaped me. A seed bank of transformation.
Inside the seed bank, each mini-zine explores one of my core values and its roots serving as a gesture of gratitude to the thinkers, practitioners, and communities who guide my work:
— A guiding quote
— A design principle
— A hand-drawn seed illustration
Approach
I began with big questions and an open mind, gradually anchoring my vision around the metaphor of form as meaning. I knew I wanted the final piece to be tactile, vibrant, and interactive; something that invited exploration.
Professor Jonathan Chapman’s seminar exposed me to transformative frameworks like pluriversal design, decolonizing design, and social design. These challenged my assumptions and fueled deeper inquiry into how I could design ethically and intentionally.
I educated myself thoughtfully on existing frameworks for justice and equity within the industry while assessing my own worldview and privileges. This process led me to co-design which is now the core of my design philosophy. I dove into independent research, exploring restorative justice pedagogies and equity-oriented design practices. I was deeply inspired and influenced by archival resources such as:
— BIPOC Design History, Emergent Strategy, Relational Design
— The Decolonizing, or puncturing, Design Reader, Black Joy Archive, Mixed Metaphor: A Liberatory Infrastructure Learning Deck
Ultimately, I decided that the most meaningful contribution I could make was to gather and amplify the voices already leading this work. Inspired by the metaphor of a seed bank or a community seed stand, I created Seeds of Transformation: a curated zine of collective wisdom and inspiration that I hope can grow alongside me as I step into my career.
(See bibliography at the end)
Visual Language:
— Organic, hand-drawn shapes
— Vibrant, earthy colors
— A balance of clarity and play
— Structure used as metaphor
Multiple print tests helped refine the final product. In future iterations, I’d opt for thicker paper stock to minimize wrinkling and enhance durability.
Works Cited
Seeds of Transformation is a love letter to the values that sustain me and the communities that shape me. It’s also a prototype that I hope to return to and replant as I grow in this field. Special thanks to Professor Kelsey Elder’s guidance on this topic.
I recognize that living these values is a lifelong practice and an ever-evolving landscape. This library is my own starting point and point of return to being in alignment with community, nature, and justice principles.
Inspiration and philosophy lineage:
Allied Media Projects. (n.d.). About. https://alliedmedia.org/about
Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective. (n.d.). Home. https://batjc.org/
Beyond Sticky Notes. (n.d.). Home. https://www.beyondstickynotes.com/
Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research. (2016, September 28). Guidelines for research with indigenous peoples. https://civiclaboratory.nl/2016/09/28/guidelines-for-research-with-indigenous-peoples/
Corita Art Center. (n.d.). Ten rules. https://www.corita.org/tenrules
CRx Lab. (n.d.). Our approach. https://crxlab.org/our-approach
Design for Belonging. (n.d.). Toolkit. https://www.designforbelonging.com/toolkit
Design Justice Network. (2018, Summer). Read the principles. https://designjustice.org/read-the-principles
Dietkus, R. (n.d.). Home. https://www.rachaeldietkus.com/
Dietkus, R. (2022, March 8). Trauma-responsive design research: A new model for change. Service Design Network. https://www.service-design-network.org/chapters/new-york/headlines/trauma-responsive-design-research-a-new-model-for-change
Environmental Science and Innovation Institute. (n.d.). About. https://esii.org/about/
Equity Meets Design. (n.d.). Courses. https://courses.equitymeetsdesign.com/
Escobar, A. (2007). Worlds and knowledges otherwise: The Latin American modernity/coloniality research program [PDF]. Monoskop. https://monoskop.org/images/4/48/Escobar_Arturo_2007_Worlds_and_Knowledges_Otherwise_The_Latin_American_Modernity_Coloniality_Research_Program.pdf
Escobar, A. (2018). Designs for the pluriverse: Radical interdependence, autonomy, and the making of worlds. Duke University Press. https://www.dukeupress.edu/designs-for-the-pluriverse
Futuress. (n.d.). A designerly inventory. https://futuress.org/stories/a-designerly-inventory/
Futuress. (n.d.). Disrupting design with capital D. https://futuress.org/stories/disrupting-design-with-capital-d/
Generative Somatics. (n.d.). Our strategy. https://generativesomatics.org/our-strategy/
Kelley, R. D. G., & Lee, B. (2011). The next American revolution: Sustainable activism for the twenty-first century. University of California Press. https://www.ucpress.edu/books/the-next-american-revolution/paper
Le Masson, P., Weil, B., & Hatchuel, A. (2010). The highways and byways to radical innovation: Design perspectives (241 pages). ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271849203_The_Highways_and_Byways_to_Radical_Innovation_-_Design_Perspectives_241_pages
MIT Press. (n.d.). Introduction and overview: Collective wisdom executive summary & biographies. https://wip.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/collective-wisdom-exec-sum-biographies/release/3
National Education Association. (n.d.). Racial justice journey. https://www.nea.org/racialjusticejourney
National Equity Project. (n.d.). Liberatory design frameworks. https://www.nationalequityproject.org/frameworks/liberatory-design
National Performance Network. (n.d.). Mixed Metaphor: A Liberatory Infrastructure Learning Deck. Leveraging a Network for Equity (LANE). https://npnweb.org/field/resources/lane/mixedmetaphor/learning-deck/
Othering & Belonging Institute. (n.d.). Cultures of care. https://belonging.berkeley.edu/cultures-of-care
Polymode Studio. (n.d.). Poetic research. https://www.polymode.studio/poetic-research/
SDN New York Chapter. (2022, March 8). Talk & Discussion: Radical Participatory Design with Victor Udoewa [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPTjojjLqeA
Sins Invalid. (n.d.). 10 principles of disability justice. https://sinsinvalid.org/10-principles-of-disability-justice/
Sleeswijk Visser, F., Stappers, P. J., van der Lugt, R., & Sanders, E. B.-N. (2005). Contextmapping: Experiences from practice. Academia.edu. https://www.academia.edu/32246367/Contextmapping_experiences_from_practice
SpeculativeEdu. (n.d.). Beyond speculative design: Past, present, future. https://speculativeedu.eu/beyond-speculative-design-past-present-future/
Tejada, R. (n.d.). The Decolonizing, or puncturing, Design Reader. Are.na. Retrieved May 5, 2025, from https://www.are.na/ramon-tejada-ox4e5gvrosu/the-decolonizing-or-puncturing-design-reader
Toptal. (n.d.). Inclusive design infographic. https://www.toptal.com/designers/ui/inclusive-design-infographic
Valiz. (2021). Design struggles [PDF]. https://valiz.nl/images/DesignStruggles-DEF_978-94-92095-88-6single-4March21-VALIZ-def.pdf
