The Design Vanguard is a community of the foremost creative leaders from the business, tech, and social sectors seeking to leverage our resources and influence to catapult design forward in service of creating a more just and beautiful world.

Together, we extend the reach and impact of design by:

01

Holding veteran and emerging designers to higher ethical standards.

Shaping a generation of designers that reflects the rich diversity of the world we live in.

02

Pushing the edges of what it means to design for humanity; thinking about individuals, communities, and systems alike.

03

Design has never been more influential. For the first time, we’re seeing designers and design leaders in influential roles in the public, private, and social sectors. They’re tackling daunting and complex challenges with empathy, optimism, and bold ingenuity.

We didn’t start the vanguard.

Icons like Florence Knoll, George Nelson, Paul Rand, and Dieter Rams established design as a critical tool in the realm of business, while the likes of Victor Papanek, Christopher Alexander, and our ultimate heroes Ray and Charles Eames questioned how design might have the power to improve communities and entire systems.

The vanguard doesn’t end with us.

The vanguard has always been here, in community organizations and individuals who fight for equity and justice on the frontlines. We are committed to understanding our place in the systems we reside in—how our work affects the causes of the vanguards around us—and defying convention to uplift these actors of social change.

The Design Vanguard was co-founded in 2018 by Jocelyn Wyatt, Tim Brown, John Cary, and Joe Gebbia, in partnership with Llisa Demetrios. It continues under the leadership of John Cary and the Eames Institute, attracting a diverse array of design luminaries.

Our vision for The Design Vanguard was realized thanks to the support of the following donors:

If you’re interested in supporting the efforts of The Design Vanguard, please contact us via email. Donations are 100% tax-deductible.

The Design Vanguard

1330 S 51st Street

Richmond, California 94804

designvanguard@eamesinstitute.org