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Design Facilitator, Design Research, Strategy, Exhibition Design, Design Writing, Community-Based Projects for Public Spaces, Urban Design and Urban Theory

Michele Y. Washington is a New York City-based design facilitator. She has a user-centered mindset and a passion for design research. She applies Design Thinking and User-Centered Interaction Design solutions to address complex issues, which deliver meaningful solutions and solve problems that are culturally relevant. Some of her recent projects include mobile publishing platforms and web-based integration, Content Strategy and curating popups. She has worked with, Coforma, A Long Walk Home, City as Living Lab, Editor’s on Call, Leadership Summit, Killen’s Journal/Medgar Evers College, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Cox Matthews and Associates, Romare Bearden Foundation, West Harlem Group Assistance, Inc., desigNYC and the Museum of Science and Industry.

Great pleasure comes from collaborating with colleagues or producing my own projects. Some have included: “Food Wealth,” a mobile app that teaches residents, living in Central and West Harlem how to identify healthy food choices. Michele is also the founder of “Curious Story Lab,” a podcast series and short documentary films featuring designers, architects, urbanism, fashion and product designers and food designers of color. Over the past few years, Michele has traveled extensively throughout Brazil this has fueled my love for everything Brazilian—led me to research designers, makers, and visual artist, on the intersection of design and Afro-Brazilian culture. While in Brazil, she participated on a panel for São Paulo Design Week. All of these projects fuel my passion and curiosity. My dream project would be “The Future of Cities.” With this in mind, Michele could apply User Experience and Human-Centered Interaction Design and tackle areas of interest such as civic engagement, public art, placemaking, housing, food, technology and architecture, and urban planning.

Michele has two master’s degrees, her most recent on Design Criticism from the School of Visual Arts and another in Communications Design from Pratt Institute. She is also an A’Lelia Bundles Columbia University Scholar Fellow, which provides additional ways of furthering her research and pedagogy in documenting design research. CV is available upon request.

Michele has been exhibited in Women Designers in the USA, 1900-2000: Diversity and Difference, held at the Bard Graduate Center, Design Journey: You Are Here at the AIGA headquarters, and Google Black History and Culture. Keeping a stakehold in my creative community is critical. She also, frequently speaks about Design and the History of African American Designers.

Michele’s writing and visual essays have appeared in AIGA Design Journey website, American Passin It Down Cookbook, Print Magazine, IRAAA Webzine and the Design Crit Chapbook. She is the editor of culturalboundaries.com a design and pop culture blog.

Board Appointments:
Poster House Museum, Advisory Board
2020-present
Pivot: A World of Many Centers, co-organizer
2020-present
National Museum of African American History & Culture
2016-present
SEGD, Education Task Force
2019-present
Indigo Arts Alliance, Advisory Circle
2018-present
Sing Sing Prison Preview Center
2018-present
AIGA Design Journey Advisory Board
2010-present

Past Boards:
IXDA/NYC leadership
AIGA NY Chapter
Global Interaction in Design (GLIDE).