Network

Real innovations take everyone into account

Gender-sensitive design is important across the globe. Through international cooperation, we learn from each other. We use design as a tool to promote a more equitable world. We call on designers around the world to utilize our expertise to create genuine innovation through sustainability and social relevance.

Member | Austria/Germany

I am an interdisciplinary designer and artist with experience as fashion designer, freelance industrial and social designer and co-creation expert with an emphasis on gender equality and community building within the framework of New European Bauhaus. Currently I am freelancing as an Advisor in Co-Creation Departments of Universities, enhancing Transfer in a fair, social and equal way.

Jana Köstler, she/her Freelance Co-Creation Advisor

Member | Germany

Falling in love with all genders (in the design process) can be generous. Wheras failing to involve all genders (to the design process) can be dangerous.
Which of these to mindsets do you prefer? - In case persons feel offended, this thought helps me to understand: “For someone with privileges, equality feels like discrimination.”

Ina von Rumohr / she/her Mental strength

Member | Germany

Julia Pierzina gives lectures and workshops on social transformation and gender equity through design. As researcher she thinks holistically and sees design as a vehicle for transformation toward fair and socially acceptable changes. Currently she is working in the field of local digital twins in urban planning and AI research projects aimed at improving healthcare processes. Here is a link to her own publication: "Gender – Design – Schule – Forschung über Geschlechtervorstellungen von Jugendlichen" and she conrtibuted to the publication "Materializing Fairness – Addressing Gender in Design and Tech".

Dr. Julia Pierzina (she/her) Intervention Designer | K8 Institute for Strategic Aesthetics

Member | Germany

“Information Design fosters participation by translating complex knowledge into accessible visual forms that enable comprehension, informed decision-making, and engagement. It is therefore not merely a design practice but a societal responsibility. Gender Design further expands this role by promoting inclusive representation and addressing power structures in visual communication.”

Prof. Dr. Stefanie Reich she/her Professor Information Design, Media Department HAW Kiel

Member | GERMANY

"I design, teach, and write about power structures in technology. Co-founder of BIRD UX, living and working in Berlin, lecturer at HS Mannheim, psychology student with a focus on social and community psychology, exploring Feminist HCI through an article series on my blog."

Stefanie Kegel Co-Founder BIRD UX

Member | Italy

Elena Caratti, PhD, is Associate professor at the Department of Design, Politecnico di Milano.
She is the Chair of the BA and MA in Communication Design, Design School of Politecnico di Milano. Author of Rimedi Gender-sensitive (2015), she co-edited the volumes Design is translation (2016) and Designing ethically in a complex world (2024).

Elena Caratti Associate Professor, Design Department, Politecnico di Milano

Member | Switzerland / Germany

Bianca is a professor and researcher in the fields of design and digital justice, social design, digital transformation and gender equity. She is chair woman of the German Society for Design Theory and Research (DGTF) and a founding member of the Social Design Network, as well as co-host of the podcast ‘Purple Code. Intersectional feminist perspectives on digital societies’.

Bianca Herlo (she/her) Prof. Dr., Head of Competence Center "Transformation Design"

Member | Germany

Felix Kosok (Ph.D.) is a graphic designer, design theorist, and curator working at the intersection of communication, politics, public imagination, and gendered design practices. He completed his doctorate in 2020 at the HfG Offenbach, where he examined the aesthetic and political dimensions of design.

Felix Kosok (he/him) Lead Design Discourse World Design Capital Frankfurt RheinMain 2026

Activities from our network

Gender Design Award iphiGenia

To show the good examples of gendersensitive design iGDN invented the Gender Design Award iphiGenia.

Experts exchange

Networking means listening, exchanging, collaborating. To do so, iGDN organizes exchange trips to built upcollaboration structures with national and international association with similar interests.

News

How Designers rethink Power, History, and Identity

9. December 2025

When people talk about design, it is often about form and function. Yet it is becoming increasingly clear: design has […]

Ina von Rumohr – Behind the scenes of the iphiGenia Award (Video)

5. November 2020

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Prof. Dr. em. Uta Brandes – Please join the international Gender Design Network (Video)

2. September 2020

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iphiGenia in der Presse

19. September 2017

2021 Frankfurter Rundschau 10. November 2021 page 9. November 2021 dgtf 16. November 2021 Schaderstiftung 4. Oktober 2021 dock11 Januar […]

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