Dr. Pierce Gordon is an innovation catalyst, researcher, facilitator, and evaluator. He’s captivated by how liberation and design are interconnected. He specializes in interdisciplinary research that unpacks how communities’ value, support, and practice innovation in social justice and international development. His research and consultation work has worked to track and support the field’s spread, complexity, and emergence.
Additionally, he specializes in spaces of transformation where equity is at the fore. Whether serving as the Inaugural innovation Fellow in Residence at the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub, conducting ethnographic analyses and facilitation projects in the Botswana Innovation Ecosystem, or by co-founding Reflex Design Collective, an equity design consultancy that’s worked for creative social justice in the Bay Area, his core aim is to catalyze good social change.
In the Fall of 2020, Dr. Gordon (virtually) visited ArtCenter for a multi-day Designmatters Residency. Pierce gave ArtCenter a community-wide presentation called “Design + Equity: On Expanding Designs Limits” which discussed Equity Design and its collateral impact on marginalized communities. Dr. Gordon also attended Designmatters TDS presentations and critique, lead roundtable conversations with faculty and students, and made himself available for 1 on 1 mentoring conversations with students.