Inspired by KA McKercher great talk at #SDGC23 I have read "Beyond Sticky Notes"! It is a must read for everyone working with marginalized or indigenous groups – and I would strongly recommend it to anyone working in co-creation settings! KA McKercher provides a critical reflection of the self-confidence of designers, holding the assumption that design processes and methods are the best way to approach any situation and that they (we) are the masters for facilitating others. Modesty, respect, critical self-reflection – even questioning if one is the right person for a project or if an external person is needed at all, all this marks a starting point for a co-creation journey. A journey that is about earning trust, creating safe spaces, finding ways for voices to be heard, adapting the pace, integrating different roles.

@KA points at all the power structures behind and within what we do. “Designers can complicit in reproducing inequity ….” The book is full of practical tips from self-reflection of the designer’s role to practical things like recognition of the time and the emotional work of people we work with in co-creation, the people with lived-experience. Thank you KA McKercher.