Team: Junainah Ahmed (MArch 23), Tara Bassi (MArch 24)

Catherine Chen, Xiaotong Wang, Juliette Dankens, Nana Komoriya, Taylor Smith (M Arch 24), Arshaya Sood (MDes ULE 22), Sara Ann Yong (MArch 23)

We are using a different platform this year - instead of meeting us in Chauhaus, head over to our new Threadless shop. After much consideration, we wanted to ensure that WiD's merch could reach all students, no matter where they are this year. Two collections were launched in Fall 2020 as a means to address two critical conversations we were having amongst ourselves.

Womxn In Design: Contour Collection

Note from the Merch Team: A contour drawing is a foundation of any artwork— it allows one to focus on the outline. This year is a little bit like that. We are all rebuilding, reconstructing, and recreating our idea of a ‘contour’ or a ‘base’. Designed countries apart, this collection features contour drawings created by the Womxn In Design Merch team of 8, spread out across the US, India, and Singapore; almost 10,000 miles apart. In a virtual world, we must constantly question and transform the way we approach design, whether that means redefining our core processes and restructuring the way we look at and understand our work. Having never met or seen each other in person, we wanted to create a collection to celebrate and emphasize our solidarity, unity, and strength as womxn in design.

Womxn in Design: Fucking Bitch Collection

A note from WiD co-chair Junainah Ahmed: On July 21, 2020, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was ascending the steps of the Capitol for a vote on Monday afternoon when she was personally accosted by a Republican colleague. Representative Ted Yoho of Florida approached Ocasio-Cortez on the steps with aggressive, insulting comments about some remarks she made earlier this month connecting poverty and crime.

Ocasio-Cortez told Yoho he was being “rude,” and he called her a “fucking bitch”.

A situation familiar to many, being “a fucking bitch” is standing your ground, being resilient, and unwavering to tactics of control from a culture of white supremacy and oppression. Ocasio-Cortez remains resilient. As do many womxn, whose stories of verbal accostings remain their own. Yet, they continue to work and persevere, unwavering under external pressures. Because hey, bitches get shit done. Combining flowers in soft tones with smiles ever so menacing, the design speaks to the duality of having to conform to pressures of femininity while remaining persistent in your own convictions. Though the creation of the collection was quite a personal process, I wanted a design that spoke to the many womxn that get shit done and are unbothered by being a “fucking bitch”.

Also available for purchase:

WiD Bib: An Annotated Bibliography on Identity Theories listed below is available for purchase by emailing gsd.womxn.in.design@gmail.com.