The Designers Accord is the global coalition of designers, educators, and business leaders working together to create positive environmental and social impact.
Adopters of the Designers Accord commit to five guidelines that provide collective and individual ways to take action. Becoming a member of the Designers Accord provides access to a community of peers that shares methodologies, resources, and experiences around environmental and social issues in design.
Philosophy
The unifying philosophy of the Designers Accord is open source. We advocate inverting the traditional model of competition, and encourage sharing best practices so we can innovate more efficiently and quickly.
- We ask all adopters to engage in conversation about social and environmental impact with every client and customer, and integrate sustainable alternatives in their work.
- We will create a real-world and online network to enable conversation about opportunities and challenges in creating sustainable products, services, and businesses.
The Designers Accord has a purposefully low barrier to entry and two distinctive characteristics:
- Adopters must have an honest drive to address the guidelines, not necessarily a record of having achieved multiple sustainability metrics already.
- Adopters must be willing to share experiences, best practices, and methodologies so that others can learn from and build on their knowledge.
The Designers Accord is a no-fee organization. We are supported by grants and tax-free donations.
Involvement
The goal of the Designers Accord is to create positive impact. There are three ways to join:
Adopter
An organized group within the creative community (design firms, corporations, educational institutions) working through the 5 guidelines.
Supporter
An individual (artists, freelance designers, students) making the guidelines relevant to his or her personal practice. Like adopters, we expect supporters to evangelize the movement within their communities.
Endorser
An organization (AIGA, IDSA, CUMULUS, IDZ) adding awareness to the cause, and providing infrastructure for education and outreach programs.
Instructions for Adopting the Designers Accord
The barrier to entry for adopting the Designers Accord is deliberately low. However, we know that it is important that this call to action is more than a manifesto. We do ask adopters to demonstrate their adherence to the guidelines by: actively participating in the community conversation; sharing work and perspectives; hosting/attending events; contributing time and energy to the various initiatives around sustainability, etc.
If you are a design firm adopter, please create (or update) your free profile on the Core77/BusinessWeek Design Firm Directory, and request to adopt on your profile page. A message will be send to the Designers Accord to review, and within 3 days, we will confirm your adoption. (Design firm listing is free.)
For corporate and educational institution adopters
If you are a corporate or educational institution adopter, please email join@designersaccord.org declaring your intention to adopt. The email should include:
- Statement of intention
- Name of institution / company
- Description of offering / work
- Location
- Website URL
- Size of institution (company, or faculty, students, staff)
- Contact name and email
The Designers Accord reviews this statement and responds to the request.
For individuals
If you are a supporter, please email join@designersaccord.org declaring your intention to support the Designers Accord. Please list your name, email address, and location.
All adopters, supporters, and endorsers follow a basic code of conduct: Do no harm; Communicate and collaborate; Keep learning, keep teaching; Instigate meaningful change; Make theory action
