Design Action Collective was founded in 2002 by two members of another worker coop called Inkworks Press — a print shop dedicated to serving social justice movements with professional printing. Innosanto Nagara and Kym Thomas were members of Inkworks who recognized the need for a shop that could focus on graphic design — so that campaign messaging and visuals could be worked out before the ink hit the paper. They founded Design Action Collective modeled after Inkworks Press — worker-owned, unionized, with clear political points of unity. Design Action and Inkworks operated as sister shops until Inkworks closed in 2015. Today, we partner with Community Printers — a worker coop that continues to print for the organizations Inkworks once served.
Being in community with other worker-owned cooperatives was vital to Design Action’s success during our most difficult start-up years. And being part of a solidarity economy with other shops who are all invested in one another’s success instead of seeing each other as competitors, ensures our ability to thrive despite all living under the exploitative conditions of capitalism.
And being part of a solidarity economy with other shops who are all invested in one another’s success instead of seeing each other as competitors, ensures our ability to thrive despite all living under the exploitative conditions of capitalism.
Design Action joined our local Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives and helped organize the 2007 Bay Area Coop Conference, where we shared skills and learned from other shops. We were a founding member of the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC), which has been instrumental in helping new coops start up around the country. This ecosystem helps us stay accountable to coop principles and find creative ways to grow our business while supporting others in this movement.
As part of the USFWC, Design Action joined peer networks and membership councils so we can be a resource to others while learning how different coops address shared challenges. Through these networks, we have trained others on the nuts and bolts of starting a worker-owned cooperative and witnessed the growth of new projects.
In 2017, Design Action participated in a coop summit in Istanbul where we could learn about economic justice work in Turkey. This brought an internationalist lens to our understanding of the coop model and gave us political context for how this model is being used to empower workers living under authoritarian regimes.
The worker coop model helps us to see ourselves and each other as whole people — not just workers. Design Action members strive to model our values in the way we work with one another. We know this takes regular practice and investment. We continue to refine and update our policies with an intersectional lens toward equity, we commit to regular anti-oppression trainings, and we prioritize systems of accountability within our shop to ensure transparency. All these efforts allow Design Action to best serve our clients and sustain our work for the long haul.
For more information on starting a worker-owned cooperative check out these resources: