Designing in Color (2026)

07/02/2025

Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Community,

After over eight years of dedicated work at the intersection of architecture, social justice, and spatial equity, we at Designing in Color have made the difficult decision to sunset our organization.

This decision, though not made lightly, comes with immense pride in the work we’ve done, the collaborations we’ve built, and the positive impact we’ve strived to have on our communities. We’ve seen our efforts take root in the spaces we’ve shaped and the conversations we’ve sparked, and for that, we are deeply grateful. We are so grateful to our clients, collaborators, and supporters for giving life to our vision.

While Designing in Color may be coming to an end, our passion for creating equitable and just spaces endures. We encourage you to continue to research, support, and advocate for social and spatial justice in the built environment.

We wish you all the best in your future endeavors, and remind you all to design with empathy, grace, care, and - boundlessly - in color.

17/09/2024

Dear colleagues, friends, and family - Designing in Color invites you to an exciting night of discussion and community at our inaugural Design Justice Mixer, Wed, Sept 25th, 5-7pm at ARUP
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
This is a great opportunity to connect with others within the budding coalition of folks in Los Angeles who are passionate about fostering just and sustainable environments through design.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Whether you are a designer, activist, or just curious about creating a more equitable world through design, this mixer is open to all. Don’t miss out on this chance to be a part of this ongoing conversation!
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
To attend this admission-free event, RSVP at the Eventbrite link below by Monday, Sept 23, with your full name so that we may get you security access to the venue.

18/02/2023

feature interview of Chris! http://voyagela.com/interview/inspiring-conversations-with-christopher-locke-of-designing-in-color/

17/01/2023

Watts Community Cookout 3!
January 21 2023 - 103rd St / Watts Station
11am-2pm
Come by for refreshments and visuals of the new community space.

Please RSVP
https://bit.ly/WattsCookout3

Catch up on the discussion
Visit www.communityspaceforwatts.com for videos and presentations from past events

What is the Community Space?
The community space will be located in Watts in a 6.5 acre property bordered by Century Blvd to the north, Juniper St to the east, 102nd St to the south and Lou Dillon Ave to the west. While the actual construction of the community space may be a few years away, the community it will support already exists and has roots that run deep throughout the rich history of Watts.

How will Community Engagement Happen?
The planning of a new Watts community space is a community-driven process. Watts community members will have many opportunities to share about their community and its needs, how the community can be strengthened, and what they hope to see in a future community space.
Local knowledge will guide the vision for the space, and Primestor, RIOS + Designing In Color will bring design and programming experience
to facilitate the process.

Join us for Community Events
Join us for a series of events and discussions, and share YOUR ideas on what the future community space should be!

Share Your Ideas With Us
email: [email protected]
instagram:
web: www.communityspaceforwatts.com

09/12/2022

Last weekend, CicLAvia and Designing in Color (DCo) collaborated to remix the configuration of the typical CicLAvia hub to create an experience that encourages more transformative participation in the future of our city.

We centered the Hub as a large-scale 'workshop' on Watts/South LA and using the principles of design justice, we looked to center community voices, strengthen existing partnerships in the neighborhood, and equip young people with design-thinking tools for tackling big changes in our city.

Our Hub, titled the Community Action Hub, was the anchor to the 7.25 mile route ending at 103rd St. and Ted Watkins Memorial Park in Watts. DCo was responsible for the creative visioning, site planning, and Hub organization/project management in close collaboration with CicLAvia.

Photography by

Thank you to our partners for a successful event:
CicLAvia -
Maintain the Mystery - , , , Place It! - ,
JAF Creative Solutions -
Friends at Mafundi -
Children’s Institute LA -
Sisters of Watts -
SMC IxD -
DJ southLAnd -
Candyce Fabre -
Street Poets -
Place and Page (graphics) -

04/12/2022

TOMORROW!! is collaborating with Designing in Color (DCo) to remix the configuration of the typical CicLAvia hub to create an experience that encourages more transformative participation in the future of our city by centering the Hub on a large-scale 'workshop' centered on Watts/South LA. Using the principles of design justice, we are looking to center community voices, strengthen existing partnerships in the neighborhood, and look to equip young people with design-thinking tools for tackling big changes in our city. Come through the Watts Hub tomorrow!!
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Shout out to our DCo collaborators that will be performing on the stage
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

07/08/2022

Watts Community Update!

To continue the community organizing efforts, the second Community cookout of the year will occur on Saturday, Aug 13th from 11am to 2pm at Freedom Plaza. If you are in the Los Angeles area this weekend and would like to support the community knowledge-sharing for the project, please come by and participate in the design discussions and comment on the progress of the design. RSVP at link in Bio!

Our organizing team consists of Tamika Butler , Marisa Ramirez , Joshua Foster , and Demar Mathews . Together this groups' collective knowledge will help challenge rhetoric, policies, and normative engagement methods, center the communities' voices collaboratively in the process, and lead conversation and ideas toward creating a space that best reflects the needs and future aspirations of residents.

The Community Cookout will display work of the .imagines-led design team and facilitate discussions centered around the neighborhoods of Watts and youth intergenerational spaces. We will focus particularly to amplify student voices, as youth are often silenced in large city public projects and an afterthought in the development process of projects throughout their neighborhoods. In an intentional effort to shift this young-perspectives narrative and truly create an intergenerational space, the community organizing team is proposing an action program and process that gravitates around the education of development and design, while empowering the creative ideas surrounding spaces of art and culture that youth already possess.

Our goal is to launch this program at the Community Cookout. If you have any interest in supporting youth or have local youth focused program your involved in, please support us with your participation or organizations program information. If you can't attend, please spread awareness or support the local non-profits found via project website link in our bio!

See you on Saturday!

07/06/2022

The Designing in Color team is excited to be leading the community organizing team for the Community Space for Watts, a neighborhood in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

To kick-off the community organizing efforts, the first Community cookout of the year will occur on Saturday, June 11th from 11am to 2pm. If you are in the Los Angeles area this weekend and would like to support the community knowledge-sharing for the project, please come by and participate in the design discussions and comment on the progress of the design.
Our organizing team consists of Tamika Butler , Marisa Ramirez , Joshua Foster , and Demar Mathews . Together this groups' collective knowledge will help challenge rhetoric, policies, and normative engagement methods, center the communities' voices collaboratively in the process, and lead conversation and ideas toward creating a space that best reflects the needs and future aspirations of residents.

The Community Cookout will display work of the .imagines-led design team and facilitate discussions centered around the neighborhoods of Watts and youth intergenerational spaces. We will focus particularly to amplify student voices, as youth are often silenced in large city public projects and an afterthought in the development process of projects throughout their neighborhoods. In an intentional effort to shift this young-perspectives narrative and truly create an intergenerational space, the community organizing team is proposing an action program and process that gravitates around the education of development and design, while empowering the creative ideas surrounding spaces of art and culture that youth already possess.

Our goal is to launch this program at the Community Cookout. If you have any interest in supporting youth or have local youth focused program your involved in, please support us with your participation or organizations program information. If you can't attend, please spread awareness or support the local non-profits found via project website link in our bio!

See you on Saturday!

07/06/2022

The Designing in Color team had such an amazing time at our company retreat in the beautiful city of New Orleans!
🫑 While there we were able to connect with the amazing people at for our day of service where we set up tents and pruned trees!
✊🏾 We were fortunate enough to tour the office and catch a bite with the amazing and as we work to continue the design justice mission!
🎨 The team also explored and met and his team! Such powerful art!
📐Not pictured but equally as important was the opportunity to go to and give their team a presentation about and the work that we do!
⚜️And finally, Designing in Color would like to give a big THANK YOU to .tulane for hosting our working sessions within their space and giving us a breakdown of the amazing work they do and history of the Central City neighborhood!

13/04/2022

Dco Rewind I Aqui Estamos: We Are Here, Afro-Latinx Panel - Pt 1. On February 23, 2022. Dco's Olga Bracamontes () along with co-host Catherine Hernandez () facilitated an amazing conversation centering Afro-Latinx voices to talk about the intersectionality between cultures and experiences. The panel included lots of laughter but also moments of vulnerability. The stories shared by the panelists were all powerful and meaningful.

Panelists:
Carmen Suero ()

Ricardo de Jesús Maga Rojas ()

Vanessa Smith Torres ()

Omar Mora ()

Co-host:
Catherine Hernandez ()

, , , , , , , , , ,

13/04/2022

Dco Rewind I Aqui Estamos: We Are Here, Afro-Latinx Panel - Pt 1. On February 23, 2022. Dco's Olga Bracamontes () along with co-host Catherine Hernandez ( ) facilitated an amazing conversation centering Afro-Latinx voices to talk about the intersectionality between cultures and experiences. The panel included lots of laughter but also moments of vulnerability. The stories shared by the panelists were all powerful and meaningful.

Panelists:
Carmen Suero ()

Ricardo de Jesús Maga Rojas ()

Vanessa Smith Torres ()

Omar Mora ()

Co-host:
Catherine Hernandez ()

, , , , , , , , , ,

23/02/2022

AFRO-LATINX CONVO! SHARE SHARE SHARE! Please join us Wednesday, February 23, 2022 at 4pm PT/7pm ET for an exciting Zoom panel discussion focused on the joys, beauty, struggles, identity and so much more as an Afro-Latinx.

"Aquí Estamos", meaning "We are Here", will center the voices of Afro-Latinx to discuss the intersectionality between two cultures and their lived experiences among two cultures. 'Representation matters' is a phrase commonly used, but what if it still leaves some people out? Our panel includes a strong group of community leaders that push for more Afro-Latinx representation through their work. Watch for spotlights of all these incredible individuals coming!

You do not want to miss this! Register today!

Zoom link in bio.

Panelists:
Carmen Suero

Ricardo de Jesús Maga Rojas

Vanessa Smith Torres

Omar Mora

Co-host:
Catherine Hernandez

, , , , , , , , , , .official,

Designing in Color

07/02/2025

17/09/2024

18/02/2023

17/01/2023

09/12/2022

04/12/2022

07/08/2022

07/06/2022

07/06/2022

13/04/2022

13/04/2022

23/02/2022

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share