In 2023 Rashid was approached by Wizinsky to participate in the doctoral research that the author of Design After Capitalism: Transforming Design Today for an Equitable Tomorrow was producing. The conversation was uplifting and reaffirming the direction of Transekt and Represented Institute. Below you will find the research notes and excerpt that was the result of that conversation. Enjoy!

Study 2: Interviews with Practitioners in “Emergent” Practices

Method(s): Semi-Structured Interviews

Date / Duration: July 2022–December 2023
Location: Cincinnati, OH; Ann Arbor, MI; virtual (online) 

Overview: A series of one-on-one interviews with designers, researchers, activists, and organizers working in various “emergent” practices relevant to topics in this research.

Introduction

In this project, I interviewed a diverse group of designers, researchers, activists, and organizers working in what I would call “emergent” practices. I sought to learn from the experiences of design and design-related practitioners on topics such as worker-owned cooperatives, material- and process-focused approaches to sustainable design, civic technology, peer-to-peer networks, living labs, and design and practices of commons and commoning. 

I began conducting these interviews early in the research phase of this dissertation in hopes of identifying inroads for doing and thinking design beyond the mindset of the capitalist paradigm. I anticipated some of these inroads would emerge as more salient than others, and they did. After sharing themes from each interview, I will summarize the insights that influenced the following work.  

Methods

Some of these practitioners were identified, selected, and recruited based on my awareness of their work. Others came about through other opportunities, such as interviewees contacting me to ask about my research. In all cases, I received verbal consent from the interviewees to record, document, and (potentially) publish our conversations. These were semi-structured interviews. Given the broad range of topics and experiences I sought to learn from these practitioners, the discussion guide for each interview varied significantly.  

I’ve made every effort to be precise with quotations. However, many of these quotes are drawn from note-taking, shaky connections on Zoom calls, or a combination of both. Wherever I am uncertain of verbatim quotations, I will indicate that I am paraphrasing. 

…

Rashid Owoyele

Rashid Owoyele is a Berlin-based designer whose work and research blend service design and social innovation. In our interview, Owoyele shared their career journey, emphasizing how they transitioned from environmental science to design, driven by a desire to create transformative change. They expressed disillusionment with the limitations of design within capitalist structures, arguing that design embedded in capitalism will inevitably perpetuate exploitation. Instead, Owoyele advocated for alternative models like cooperatives, commons, and platform cooperativism, emphasizing a fundamental shift in “the rules of the game” to achieve true social justice and ecological change. Owoyele’s vision involves building networks and fostering collaboration among diverse groups engaged in postcapitalist experiments, highlighting the importance of shifting power dynamics and redefining value systems to create a more equitable and sustainable future.

“When it comes to social innovation, often the most useful thing is something that has been right in front of you the whole time but in a different context.”

“There is no other role that the human in human-centered design can play other than consumer.”

One of the biggest takeaways from my conversation with Owoyele was the limitation of new methods or tools within existing institutions. They said (paraphrasing): 

“I’m making the assertion that design embedded within a capitalist institution’s or organization’s DNA is going to replicate extractive, exploitative, marginalization effects NO MATTER WHAT! This is how the environment is designed. These are the rules we set in place for humans to interact with whatever materials and situations they encounter. The rules of the game ARE the problem.” 

This starkly indicates that attempts towards “new ways of designing” within existing institutions whose function is to operate in a capitalist paradigm (compete, exploit, grow) will be limited by this “DNA.” Owoyele took a strong position on this point. It was valuable to hear how this perspective came from diverse experiences working on social innovation projects in the United States and Europe. This clear articulation of “the rules of the game ARE the problem” helped me to see that “new ways of designing” (as described by Transition Design) will also necessitate “new institutions of designing.”