A guidebook to the institutional transformation of design theory and practice by restoring the
long-excluded cultures of Indigenous Black and People of Color communities. From the excesses
of world expositions to myths of better living through technology modernist design in its
European-based guises has excluded and oppressed the very people whose lands and lives it
reshaped. Decolonizing Design first asks how modernist design has encompassed and advanced the
harmful project of colonization—then shows how design might address these harms by recentering
its theory and practice in global Indigenous cultures and histories. A leading figure in the
movement to decolonize design Dori Tunstall uses hard-hitting real-life examples and case
studies drawn from over fifteen years of working to transform institutions to better reflect
the lived experiences of Indigenous Black and People of Color communities. Her book is at
once enlightening inspiring and practical interweaving her lived experiences with extensive
research to show what decolonizing design means how it heals and how to practice it in our
institutions today. For leaders and practitioners in design institutions and communities
Tunstall’s work demonstrates how we can transform the way we imagine and remake the world
replacing pain and repression with equity inclusion and diversity—in short she shows us how
to realize the infinite possibilities that decolonized design represents.
