About

Indigenising Design is a pan-continent collaboration between designers, academics and changemakers that explore the possibilities beyond a colonised design system. We exist in a world designed predominantly by and for Western norms, reinforcing the vestiges of colonisation. Yet many indigenous practitioners are returning to their ancestral practices to inform their work, introducing a rich alternative to mainstream methodologies.

 

Indigenising Design aims to bring together like-minded individuals from across the globe to discuss, unpack and explore the ways in which our world is designed. It celebrates indigeneity and the identities, customs, stories and practices that make our indigenous communities unique. Through indigenising our design practices, we actively dismantle the lasting impacts of colonisation in our built and designed spaces. It invites us to dream about and create new realities predicated on equity, fairness and the celebration of indigenous ways of being. Through indigenising design and through practice, we embrace more diverse ways of being and doing.

Objectives

  • Connect with Indigenous communities - how have we approached decolonising structures in our environment and enhancing our own indigeneity, including designers, thinkers, planners, storytellers

  • Knowledge exchange between Indigenous communities 

  • A freely accessible repository of best-practice resources to support active indigenisation

  • Document the amazing work being done by Indigenous communities to realise our indigenisation aspirations to support other Indigenous communities on their own indigenisation journey

  • To collate Indigenous approaches to different challenges to inform non-indigenous involvement in indigenisation

Intended outcomes

  • The development and fostering of a stronger international network of Indigenous designers and practitioners

  • Knowledge sharing and an enriched international community of designers, informed by Indigenous wisdom and practice

  • Improved accessibility to a repository of learning, showcasing examples of application and demonstration of Indigenising and decolonising design

  • Acknowledgment and privileging of Indigenous voices in mainstream design

Project partners

Indigenous Design & Innovation Aotearoa

IDIA are a Māori-led cultural creative agency. We’re designers, cultural change makers and innovators. We’re influencing and designing global change through an indigenous lens. We address complex challenges by collaborating in a uniquely bicultural way to enable positive change, mō ngā rangatira o te āpōpō. Mauri ora!

British Council

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries globally. Through arts and culture, British Council Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific works to connect the people of Aotearoa New Zealand and the UK. The British Council operates in over 200 countries and territories around the world and are on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2022-23 we reached 600 million people.

Arts and Culture, University of Exeter

Based in the South West of England, Arts and Culture supports the creative life of the University of Exeter. We work with staff, students, creative practitioners, cultural organisations and communities across Devon and Cornwall to help strengthen creative networks, raise the profile of creativity at the University and foster interdisciplinary collaborations. We support the University’s Strategy 2030 commitments, working to make the world ‘greener, healthier and fairer’, and love being part of new partnerships across borders and time zones.

Concurrency

Concurrency is a London-based creative design consultancy founded by design leader Ve Dewey. We are on the bleeding edge at the intersection of design technology / AI and leadership. We work with diverse creative and cultural organisations and academia to create innovative and disruptive interventions, activations, and research that aim to change the discourse around critical societal issues.

The story of our logo

Inspired by the whakataukī “E koekoe te tūī, e ketekete te kākā, e kūkū te kererū”, the Indigenising Design visual identity explores the diversity of the many voices involved in this kaupapa. This whakataukī inspired the use of bird forms flying in unison in four flocks, emanating outwards.

Hailing from ngā hau e whā - the four winds, Indigenising Design Series speakers and delegates represent all four corners of the globe. This is reflected in the compass motif supporting the flying manu.

The colour palette is inspired by the plumage of the kererū, one of the most revered and chiefly native birds of Aotearoa. The gradient colour resembles light illuminating the kereru’s iridescent, glossy plumage that ranges from majestic purples, to deep emerald green and midnight blues. With the unique sound of its beating wings, this kererū-inspired colour treatment celebrates diversity and distinctiveness.

The typographical treatment echoes the contours of the bird. Subtle arcs and flicks of feathers are seen in the serifs and flourishes.

The visual identity of Indigenising Design embodies the celebration of our differences yet our collective identity as Indigenous peoples. It seeks to inspire us to harness our oral traditions, find our unique voice and sing in harmony.