Başak Altan

West District Chapter Representative Statement of Candidacy 2021-2022

I believe in the power design plays for positive social and environmental impact. For over 20 years of my professional design career, I had the opportunity to work with amazing people who care about what they do. Chairing the IDSA-San Francisco Chapter with a fantastic team of officers was a meaningful way to connect with the design community in the Bay Area and share my diverse professional experience. Extending my network of collaborators to the larger design community and curating diverse conversations that resonated with our professional network anchored my deep belief in our collective potential to create thriving futures for a more sustainable and just word.

I hope to continue the momentum of the West District’s initiatives and build on collaborating on collective events that align with IDSA’s mission. I am looking forward to being a part of IDSA’ s impact in our professional network as the West District Chapter Representative and lead by using the power of design for good.

Başak Altan, IDSA, a self-employed design educator, futures thinker, and connector, graciously curated and hosted the IDSA Design Voices series of webinars in 2021. At the same time, she served as IDSA’s West District Chapter Representative for the 2021-2022 term.

In her Design Voices role, Başak told us she had the “amazing opportunity to reconnect with colleagues” from different segments of her life-centered design career, spanning over two decades and spreading around the world.

“Bringing their diverse voices and inspiring and unconventional experiences to the design community, along with my own design journey, allowed me to highlight and amplify how we can work together towards a more purposeful, equitable, and sustainable life for all, through design,” she notes. “I believe that our collective success depends on our ability to cooperate, collaborate, and find common ground where ideas can be shared and communicated through a common language for a better future.”

This “sum of us” philosophy is deeply woven into Başak’s leadership engagements in design, education, research, and innovation. In 2022, she plans to continue partnering with organizations “who are on a mission to empower communities by co-designing their offerings into enriching solutions for a sustainable future for everyone.”

“I cannot wait to continue my work for strategy for innovation in the intersection of business, technology and education,” she says. “I also am looking forward to continuing my expertise as an academic partner for organizations in empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs when it comes to delivering true innovation.”

Discussion on Closing the Gender Gap Through Design

“When women are involved in decision-making, in research, in knowledge production, women do not get forgotten. Female lives and perspectives are brought out of the shadows. This is to the benefit of women everywhere … and it is often to the benefit of humanity as a whole.” – Caroline Criado Perez, Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men

Join us for a discussion of Perez’s book, reflecting on your experiences as designers and where you see opportunities for improvement and growth in your profession to close the representation gap.

Organic Design Education for Circular Economy

This paper reviews desired factors and systemic influences to cultivate a thriving setting for organic design education to prepare design students for a circular economy. It reviews faculty-driven initiatives adopted in a sustainable and social impact
design studio where aspects of the organic educational setting were integrated. The paper concludes with the final results of these practices.