05 June 2025

Design for equity is under attack. Political winds are shifting, especially as the presidential administration in the U.S. openly targets diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts. What are we, service designers still committed to equity, to do? I propose that we ground deeper into our commitments to DEI by first, perhaps counterintuitively, dispensing with DEI as our nominal charge and second seeking to develop a robust programme for restorative service design. I offer examples from my work on projects with government services in the U.S. to explore what restorative service design could look like.

Become an SDN member today to start reading this article.


Discover our membership options


Become a Member