Stop, Drop & Design Manifesto

Critical Design to understand and influence our worldview.

Mission Statements

1. We believe in doing, not just saying.
2. We believe in the honest discovery, diligent exploration of ideas, and the ethical experimentation with solutions.
3. We believe designers have unique skills and methods for problem solving, and through collaboration, we can make a difference. Our world has a range of problem and opportunity spaces, ranging in scope and severity from improving signage on public roads to class inequality.
4. We believe that work and play go hand and hand, and both are vital to maintaining healthy professional culture. We aim to cultivate a community of play and practice while maintaining our professional diligence and doing serious work.
5. Instead of only attempting to solve wicked problems, we can aim to understand and challenge them through critical design in order to study and change perception and influence action. In practicing critical and speculative design, we can observe any emerging technology or scientific discovery; any social problem; and generate scenarios where the observed technology directly participates in solving or worsening that social problem.
6. We believe social media can be leveraged to strengthen distributed ties within the design community and to foster new connections and generate new ideas.
7. We believe in creating an open space and framework for practicing design thinking in a low risk environment — while still taking a critical lens.
8. We believe that our experiments can raise awareness of world issues at various scales increasing an understanding of global systems and perceptions allowing us to critically reflect. We can start in our local communities.
9. We believe design can take many different forms: marketing campaigns, products, services, and more. All are welcome.
10. We believe in encouraging continued involvement as participants develop a passion for the domains they reflect on. Furthermore, we believe in sharing that passion by publishing our thoughts and observations. We will build a supporting framework for both of these.
11. We believe in promoting social responsibility, but also in choice. Participants are free to refuse a challenge from other members of the community.
12. Ultimately, we believe in the idea of collaborating, challenging ourselves, and engaging the community.

Code of Ethics

1. We agree to treat all humans with decency and respect, including assuming the best of intentions until proven otherwise.
2. I understand this is a group effort and will be transparent about my availability, potential project responsibilities, and possible fidelity of work.
3. We encourage participants to publish their findings under the creative commons license, but ultimately, your work is your own.
4. If we are able to do the work, we must.
5. We work towards clarity and truth.
6. We are an inclusive and non discriminatory community.
7. We do not condone harassment of any kind.
8. We will understand the system of use and contexts first before intervening.
9. When intervention occurs, we will do so by estimating the unforeseen consequences through thoughtful action and systems thinking.
10. I will attempt to do my best work to my ability.
11. If we are unable to complete our agreed upon responsibilities, I will communicate with my team as soon as possible.
12. If there is an incident of harassment or indecent conduct, please report this as soon as possible to stopdropndesign@gmail.com and our administrators will review to consider further action.
13. The administrators reserve the right to review, monitor and provide feedback for any submissions and community conduct.

To participate further in this community, you may request to join our slack channel.

This project is co-created and organized by S. Poppe & Gabe Persons, M.S.. Thank you to the inspiration of Midwest UX, Dr. Jeffrey Bardzell, Nick Hawes, Liz Mikolaj, Prianka Rayamajhi, Matt Edwards, Jacquelyn Yakira, Christian Beck, Matt Jennex, Adam Williams, and Tarun Gangwani for the preliminary feedback in helping us get this idea off the ground.