Election 2016 was not so good. It ended badly. Very badly. In the month since that fateful day, there has been much commiserating. Face to face, human to human. Hugs and gasps, disbelief and motivation. 

How are we going to get through all this? How extensive will the damage be? How will we recover? And will we ever come together again as a nation? What about as a region, as a state, as a city, as a neighborhood, as a street? 

Are we, in fact, destined for division? Too different, too in our bubble, and too goddamn stubborn to do anything about it? 

We do have projects in full swing. Design, web, creative. Community-building, changemaking, action-focused. All the hallmarks of a typical project we sink our teeth into. The projects we stare directly into the sun for. But will it be enough? 

In each and every project we take on, we have always infused in it our open-mindedness, our unbridled energy and optimism, our inherent desire to make something better and worthy of attention. Something we are proud of. Something that moves the needle. That brings people together and holds up our vision of the world, in however small a way. Every bit helps. We’ve always thought.

But does it? Now, in the wake of the fury, does design matter? Or should we all be on the front lines of the resistance? The answer is yes. To both.

Design does matter. For its thinking and problem-solving. For the way it simply says, “how can we make this better?” This is its heart. This is why it matters. But it isn’t enough. 

We have to get out there. In the streets. Amidst the protest. On the phone. Hounding our elected officials. We have to be with everyone else working tirelessly to not let our American progress slide backwards. We have to do more listening. We have to do more engaging. We have to do more serving. We have to do more, more, more. In the way that we know how to do things. Hopefully, directly, and without wavering. Always willing to push, forward. Always willing to hold the line.

We are talking with our community. To our design colleagues in the city and on the other side of the country. We our conversing. We are plotting. We are scheming. We are readying ourselves for the long fight to come. You can be sure of that.

Design will be at the heart of the next 4 years. So will activism. In tandem they will be the forces that drive our work. They will be what we choose to push out of our creative beings for the good of the cause, whatever particular cause that may be, at any given time. 

This is not something we will stand still with. We will not just “wait and see.” We don’t take kindly to fascists, misogynists, racists, or sociopathic liars. All things we associate with the charlatan who calls himself Trump. This person, we have no respect for. And we will proceed accordingly. 

A new movement will soon be born in America. One that will reassert its patriotism. One that holds firm diversity as a constant. One that stands with no division. We are going to be in it together. We will defend. We will work. We will hold firm. 

This movement, this resistance, it has begun.