Designers yield a lot of power in their role as they hold the key to methodology and solutions, which allows them to influence research and design outcomes—through ownership of the process, access to people and information, the ability to assign validity and value to findings and ideas, as well as authorship and praise.

This talk introduces three critical moments that designers typically create and maintain asymmetrical power relations:

• The relationship between designer and community;
• The exchange and distribution of benefits of the design process; and
• The framing of conclusions and outcomes

Drawing from critical feminist, Indigenous, anti-oppressive, and resistance-oriented research texts, as well as using a case study that translated lessons from those texts into the design process, this talk will support attendees in building their capacity to recognize power differentials and, ultimately, cede power.