Malaika
Franks

I am passionate about how design can be used as a tool to create radical and sustainable change in people’s lives. Design gives someone the practical means to empower communities, change perceptions, level ability and accessibility gaps and make a difference in an individual’s lives. Through my design practice I hope to make a positive impact on the world around me. My work has been centred around: How to ethically engage communities as a designer, removing barriers to access in public spaces and using design to address social issues, from gun violence through to the refugee crisis.

Website

RISD Community Engagement Centre

This project worked to propose a space and tools which facilitate equal interactions between RISD and the greater Providence community. The aim of this center is to reduce the barriers between designers and the communities they are designing for. Encouraging students to design with communities rather than just for them.

RISD Community Engagement Centre

Psych-social education program for women refugees

In a collaboration with Faros Horizon Center, we co-created a curriculum for refugees in Greece. Focusing on relieving mental distress from COVID19 and uncertainty from being a refugee, we created an engaging curriculum for the women offering a platform to express their emotions and develop emotional coping skills through activities while further developing design skills.

Psych-social education program for women refugees

"Good Design" Event

This event is a space where fellow students and faculty can have conversations about what they thought “good design”. It is our belief that the design discipline itself lacks space for user feedback and critique. To ensure our practice doesn’t create further harm to the communities we work within, we must reevaluate the modes and methods which shape our design process.