The Thinking Behind the Doing
We use this space to share what we’re learning, what we’re questioning, and what we’re building alongside our community.
Before You Order the Tote Bags: A Guide to More Sustainable, Values-Aligned Merch
Festival season is here, and if you're heading into a busy stretch of events, campaigns, or fundraising pushes, merch is probably somewhere on your list. We want to help you think it through mindfully, and that includes being honest when merch might not be the right...
Seeking Our Next 1% for the Planet Environmental Partner
As part of our 1% for the Planet commitment, each year we offer a combination of monetary and in-kind creative collaboration, valued at up to $5,000, to an environmental organization. That could look like a brand refresh, a website, a campaign, a creative tool, a...
What “Inclusive French” Means, And Why It Matters for Your Bilingual Content
If your organization produces bilingual content, you've probably been through the standard workflow: write it in English, send it to a translator, get the French version back, drop it into the layout. The problem is that workflow treats French as a conversion. For the...
Designing for Longevity in the Social Impact & Nonprofit Sector
If you're reading this, it's likely not news to you that every organization we work with is navigating funding, capacity, and communications challenges; you're probably living it. And right now, with so much uncertainty in the world and systems falling apart, those...
The Platforms That Rule Us: How to Navigate Ethical Tech in an Age of Extraction and Surveillance
Power, safety, and systems When people talk about ethical tech, the conversation often starts with tools, and which platform is better, less harmful, and which company aligns more closely with our values. We're asking those questions too, while realizing that ethical...
Turning Health Research Into Action: The Role of Design in Knowledge Mobilization
Health research is a powerful driver of change. It shapes policy, guides community programs, and influences funding decisions. But research only creates impact when it’s communicated clearly. Too often, valuable findings stay locked in academic journals or lengthy...
The role of design in advancing health equity
Health equity isn’t only about who gets services, but also about who feels invited to use them. Visuals, language, and platforms carry as much weight as policy when it comes to making people feel seen and supported. Public health organizations around the world are...
Design as a Gesture of Care
We might not use the term “human-centred design” every day, but the principle behind it shows up in almost everything we do at Arcana: empathy. Empathy is the mindset that shapes our design process. It’s what drives us to look beyond the brief, beyond the template,...
Design Is Never Neutral
This week’s news that Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb, has been appointed Chief Design Officer for the Trump administration highlights what has always been true: design is never neutral. Design is powerful. It shapes how we see the world, what we pay attention to,...
Designing for the World We’re Still In
When David Suzuki says it's too late, we all listen. Not because we take that message at face value, but because we recognize the depth of care behind his words. You can feel the exhaustion and the disappointment through the page. He's spent decades warning us,...
Finding Leverage for Change in Complex Systems
We encounter complex problems all the time - in our work, in our day-to-day lives, and in navigating our complicated world. In social justice movements, whether we’re tackling climate change, addressing poverty, or improving the way services are delivered, these...
What Raffi Taught Me About Storytelling and Social Change
Like many kids who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s, Raffi’s songs were a big part of my childhood soundtrack. Songs like Baby Beluga, Down by the Bay, and Bananaphone were small lessons in wonder, kindness, connection, and joy. His music was fun, but it was also deeply...