Designerly Ways of Knowing: A Working Inventory of Things a Designer Should Know

A poetical list of essential knowledge for designers that both politicizes and inspires.

In 2018, the architect and activist Michael Sorkin published the now beloved essay-list "Two Hundred and Fifty Things an Architect Should Know." Struck by the compelling form of this text, Danah Abdulla compiled a version for designers—"a list based on a search for knowledge and a designer’s commitment to making the world a better place," as she writes. Abdulla’s list includes the experience of scents; how critical theory does not account for the colonial experience; the dangers of seeking out simplicity; visual pollution; and how certain emblems and symbols make people feel. It is meant to be approached as a series of prompts to consider, discard or spark a conversation.

Danah Abdulla (born 1986) is a Palestinian Canadian designer, educator and researcher. She is Program Director of Graphic Design at Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Colleges of Arts, and a founding member of the Decolonising Design platform.