Building more diverse, equitable, and inclusive communities through design

Diversity, equity, and inclusiveness are the centrepiece of our design practice. We place a high value on the roles different cultures and ethnicity play in our work, just as we recognize the important individual contributions and collaborative group dynamics in the growth of the creative process.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusiveness

We’re committed to evolving a diverse, equitable and inclusive working environment that’s highly productive and positive, where everyone is respected. It’s the source of our strength, and what makes PIVOT the distinctive design studio that it is.

Empathy is our core value that we cherish the most. As user-centred designers, it’s the skill that feeds our natural curiosity and insatiable desire to learn from others. It drives our passion for discovery, having new ideas and producing our greatest work. We also believe in transparency and full disclosure, and that being honest and realistic about what we’ve accomplished and what’s still left to do is its own reward.

Our Values

Empathy

Appreciating different viewpoints, learning from others.

Collaboration

Sharing thoughts and ideas, working as a team

Sustainability

Fulfilling our current needs without compromising the needs of future generations

Inclusiveness

Embracing the differences that shape our community

Curiosity

Prioritizing user research and learning from others

Our sponsorship and donations activities include financial support for Pencils for Kids, a global charity that provides education, training and income-generating opportunities to communities focusing on the needs of children, girls and women. This includes offering scholarships, farming programs and sewing programs for girls in small communities in Nigér, West Africa.

pencilsforkids.com

PIVOT's Founder and Creative Director Ian Chalmers is an active member of The Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD), Canada's largest professional association for graphic design professionals. He is a member of the Membership Committee and co-lead of the Firm Owners Group. PIVOT contributes to the Student Awards Program by sponsoring the PIVOT Interaction Design Award and provides memberships to their designers with RGD designation.

rgd.ca

PIVOT has been a proud sponsor of DesignTO Youth for the Festival’s 2022-23 season. The program provides youth with access to creative disciplines and professionals, giving them the opportunity to work together with mentors to create work that is presented at the DesignTO Festival each January.

designto.org/designto-youth

PIVOT supports a number of post-secondary educational institutions nurturing the next generation of talent in the design field in Ontario, including George Brown College in Toronto.

POCAM exists to ensure the voice, vision and talent of BIPOC professionals are fully and fairly present in Canadian Advertising and Marketing.

wearepocam.ca

Pivot is pleased to be part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation community. Our goal is to involve circular design thinking in our design work and processes and engage with our community to accelerate the global transition to a circular economy.

ellenmacarthurfoundation.org

Land Acknowledgement

As an important step towards reconciliation, we acknowledge that our studio is located on treaty land of the Mississauga of the Credit First Nation, an area on which the Haudenosaunee, the Wendat, and the Anishinaabe have thrived through time. We respect our collective responsibility to protect and nurture the land and recognize the legacies of colonial histories, and are grateful to share this land as treaty people who learn, work, and live in the community with one another.

Decolonizing Design

There's growing recognition by non-Indigenous Canadians of the harsh realities of the Indigenous experience in Canada. If we are to advance the process of reconciliation, there needs to be real dialogue on recognizing the Indigenous world view alongside Western interpretations of history. Reconciliation demands that as Canadians we accept the reality of our colonial past and its ensuing paralysis on Indigenous Peoples.

Design produces culture and culture produces design. As designers, when we're imagining the future, we're thinking about possibilities and designing possible outcomes. Our design needs to be about creating a world where many worlds can fit. And the futures that we're thinking about should be diverse, equitable and inclusive, where the human component is just one part of many different narratives.

Our creative process begins by coming to terms with where we are: whose land we're standing on, and what their customs, oral histories and aesthetics are. At Pivot, we honour these realities by seeking to reimagine the space so that we can pay tribute to them.