Over five months, we facilitated 15 engagements with more than 500 people. We began by researching the guiding principles of other initiatives and their development process to learn how other communities have created shared values. With key learnings in hand, we facilitated a series of engagements including interviews, workshops, and interactive experiences. Our conversations centered around the “good life” — rather than asking outright how people feel about design, we asked them to envision what’s needed to improve their quality of life. Together, we identified three shared values: diverse experiences to broaden our horizons, collaborative relationships to bring us together, and accessible opportunities to invite participation.

At Design Core Detroit’s annual design summit, we revealed the set of inclusive values to participants via a keynote address, a booklet that imagines real life scenarios of the values at play, and an interactive wall exhibit for people to share how they’ll act on the values.

The values will guide Design Core Detroit’s work as they develop design talent, invest in Detroit’s design industry, and advocate for policies that embrace design for all Detroiters.