A reading list to explore how DEI connects with design, health, and climate.

In most American communities, a new school year is in full swing. While not everyone is in a classroom this fall, it’s still the perfect time to learn something new.

Almost two years ago, Luminary Labs’ DEI committee launched an internal reading group. Through multimedia resources and facilitated discussions, we have had opportunities to think critically and expansively about how diversity, equity, and inclusion connect with our values, as well as our strategy and innovation work across sectors and focus areas.

These resources — and the conversations they inspire — are too important to keep to ourselves. Our newest reading list offers a curated selection of links and ideas to help leaders consider how equity intersects with topics such as design, health, and climate.

Inequity, intersectionality, and identity

DEI Deconstructed (Lily Zheng, 2023 book). Zheng offers a pragmatic approach to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), bridging theory with practice. The book analyzes current methods and proposes a roadmap for effective DEI implementation, drawing from cutting-edge research on organizational change and evidence-based practices. We view equity as a process and practice of awareness, understanding, acknowledgement, action, accountability, and repair, and this book has supported our ongoing effort to live our company values. DEI Deconstructed provides tools for teams to elevate their discussions about what works in DEI, acknowledge ineffective practices, and focus on interventions that work. A new companion workbook, DEI Reconstructed, includes exercises, worksheets, and other tools to guide both self-work and organizational change.

Extra credit 

• Introducing Intersectionality (Mary Romero, 2017 book).
• Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory (Patricia Hill Collin, 2019 book).
• Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America (Mae M. Ngai, 2014 book).
• The Bluest Eye (Toni Morrison, 1970 book).

DEI and design

Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design (Kat Holmes, 2018 book). Holmes explores how inclusive design methods can create elegant solutions that work for all users. This book delves into the concept of design “mismatches” — seemingly innocuous design decisions that can make otherwise well-designed products inaccessible to large groups of people —  and advocates that designing with excluded users in mind can benefit everyone. At Luminary Labs, we believe that design is not optional. Whether we are building a custom website for an innovation challenge or planning an industry day event, our team makes design decisions on a daily basis. This compelling book shows how inclusive design can drive innovation and growth — especially in digital technologies — potentially boosting creativity and expanding audiences. 

Extra credit

• Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need and Design Pedagogies: ‘There’s Something Wrong with This System (Sasha Costanza-Chock, 2020 book and article).  
• Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men (Caroline Criado Perez, 2020) and Invisible Women (99% Invisible, 2019 podcast).
• A Love Letter to Design, a List of Demands, and a Stern Look (RIck Griffith, 2020 article).

DEI and health

The Poisoned City: Flint’s Water and the American Urban Tragedy (Anna Clark, 2019 book). Clark’s award-winning book chronicles the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, detailing how state and local government decisions led to lead poisoning in the city’s predominantly poor and African American population. Through our work with the CDC to design and produce the Lead Detect Prize, a $1 million open innovation challenge to identify and foster breakthrough solutions and products for optimal lead testing in children, we know there is no safe level of lead in blood, and the legacy of contamination presents an ongoing risk. This book provides crucial context for understanding the uneven distribution of lead exposure impacts and the historical factors influencing which communities are most affected. The narrative is a cautionary tale and highlights how environmental issues intersect with social justice, governance, and public health, offering important insights into the interconnected nature of societal problems, the importance of infrastructure maintenance, and the often-overlooked social determinants of health.

Extra credit

• Anna Clark in conversation with Rick Perlstein (Midwest Socialist, 2019 video). 
• A Practitioner’s Guide for Advancing Health Equity: Community Strategies for Preventing Chronic Disease (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013 PDF).
• Health Equity (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023 video).  
• Ellen Lupton and Bon Ku: Health Design Thinking (University of Alberta, 2021 video).  
• House on Fire: The Fight to Eradicate Smallpox (William H. Foege, 2011 book).

DEI and climate

All We Can Save Anthology (Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson, 2021 book). This collection of essays, poetry, and art lifts up voices from women and girls on the frontlines of the climate movement. ​A changing climate impacts every aspect of our economy and society, and solutions to the climate crisis will require unprecedented collaboration, innovative thinking, and bold intervention. Our own work increasingly intersects with issues such as climate and equity, and our growing climate portfolio includes the AI for Climate and Nature Grand Challenge (Bezos Earth Fund) and the Power Your Future Challenge (U.S. Department of Education). Impactful solutions to the climate crisis will require adaptation across all sectors and industries, and the most innovative approaches may come from unexpected or historically overlooked sources. The book underscores the importance of collaboration, creativity, and compassion in tackling the complex, interconnected issues stemming from climate change.

Extra credit

• Pollution is Colonialism (Max Liboiron, 2021 book). 
• Black Climate Optimism (Rachel Cargle and Leah Thomas, 2021 article). 
• How Indigenous Peoples Are Fighting the Apocalypse (Julian Brave NoiseCat, 2021 article).
• Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors (Grist, 2022 short stories).