Code of Conduct

Updated August 10, 2026

Our mission is to empower the designers of tomorrow through educational tools and mentoring. We are the only 501(c)(3) non-profit building an educational platform focused on providing equal-opportunity resources to designers globally.

Designed includes an extremely diverse group of people from a wide range of cultures, languages, and experiences around the world. This is a strength and an opportunity for all of us to learn. Please ask and explore, with an eye towards improved understanding and connection.

We require a certain level of human behavior to keep Designed a welcoming, growing, respectful, safe, and civil platform community. Harassment, hate, fear mongering, or similar behavior will not be allowed. Any such actions will be dealt with quickly and decisively. Refusal to comply with guidance from a Community Manager or Admin will result in being banned.

Goals

Design thrives when the designer is open to understanding the needs and situations of others. Designed exists so that we can practice that with each other, as well as share knowledge, experience, training, resources, and advice. This is a place where people can become better designers and contribute to a better world.

To learn more about our mission, vision, and values, head over to our about page.

Encouraged Behavior

Even though it’s impossible to outline all the positive models and guidance for how we hope everyone will behave, here is a non-comprehensive list of some principles we hope to encourage and see in participants.

• Be Inclusive: A person is a person, with a right to exist and to expect to be treated with respect.
• Be Respectful While Giving and Receiving Feedback: Direct and constructive feedback is helpful. Being mean isn't. Give insight, not judgement. Everybody is learning. Listen if there’s a negative response to your words.
• Practice the Principle of Charity: In conversations, assume the other speaker’s words come from a place of rationality, compassion, and good intent.
• Be Humble: We value expertise, but we also know that we grow in expertise by listening.
• Ask & Listen: Ask when you need to know something, and listen to the answers.
• Educate: Hear what’s being asked and share what you know for the asker’s benefit, not to promote yourself.
• Do Not Take Advantage: Though participants are committed to educating and helping, please be aware that this does not extend to others doing your work for you, or others being a resource for your personal or professional profit.
• Grow Personally and Professionally: This community is a great place to practice the values we promote in our work.
• Connect: We encourage everyone to get to know everyone. Encountering and accepting people from around the world can make us better.
• Be Nice: Before you react, think about how you’d feel to receive the comment you’re about to give.

Unacceptable Behavior

• Harassment: Simply put, we will not tolerate it. Harassment includes but is not limited to:
  • Negative comments based on race, sex, sexuality, gender, nationality, neurotypicality, political affiliation, physical appearance, home life or history, disability — and remember that it’s not up to the speaker to dispute what is or isn’t offensive
  • Threats of violence, physical or virtual
  • Unwelcome sexual actions, insinuations, attentions, or remarks
  • Attempts at intimidation
  • Publishing personally identifying information
  • Patronizing, microaggressive, or other belittling comments
• Disruption: Continued digressions, disruptions, and derailing of someone’s conversation when asked not to. This is up to moderator’s interpretation.
• Intolerance: In addition to what has been listed under Harassment, this can include (but is not limited to) blacklisting or freezing out other members, demonstration of unwillingness to listen to someone due to any or other characteristics as listed above.
• Spamming: Do not post ads or promotions for your company/product/project/etc. Do not try to sell things, recruit customers, or harvest personal information.

Grievance Process / Actions to Remedy

If you see or have experienced any unacceptable behavior, please contact a moderator as soon as you can via direct message. A moderator will let you know they’ve received your message, though be aware a response may not be immediate. (Responses are often decided after discussion among moderators.) To view the list of moderators, type !mods in the #_support channel. This also sends an alert to all moderators.

By default, a report or complaint will be kept anonymous to the community, though shared among moderators; if you want to remain anonymous to moderators other than the one you file a report with, please make that explicit in your initial report. In either case, we will not name reporters without consent, and even then try to avoid any mention of a reporter.

Consequences

If a Community Manager contacts you and asks you to stop certain behavior, do so immediately. Failure to do so may result in the CM banning you, at their discretion.

If your behavior has drawn attention that requires a CM contacting you, be aware that this will be remembered. Repeating the behavior that incurs warnings will result in banning.

If you have been warned, then call out or personally attack another member whom you think reported you, you will be banned.

Being banned is not up for appeal. Please be nice.