Visualizing our Unity
Inspiring Airbnb employees to internally evolve the company’s approach to addressing discrimination on the platform.
Background
In 2016, the culmination of Black travelers sharing their experiences of discrimination on Airbnb’s platform led to significant backlash from the Black community (#airbnbwhileblack) and public relations crisis for Airbnb. The company looked inward to 1) understand how bias had filtered into a product experience that was originally intended to be radically inclusive, and 2) adapt the product to address the discrimination on the platform. However, something was missing in the process: successfully designing more inclusive technology, policies, and campaigns starts with open conversations among employees about bias, discrimination, and acceptance. In order to improve the product for its global community, Airbnb had to start from within. At the time, Black employees didn’t feel comfortable to engage in these discussions at work or satisfied with the company’s approach to addressing the general public on this issue.
As a response to this challenge I led a small creative team (consisting of designers and members of Airbnb’s Black employee resource group) to collaborate on an internal project that would unlock productive dialogue among employees around this topic. Our solution was an unexpected employee-led visual protest series. We drew inspiration from the visual language of civil rights movements and channeled this through design, copy, and photography. Placed side by side in our San Francisco headquarters, the collection of portraits referenced the front lines of a protest and documented black employees aligned with coworkers that were allies. I co-wrote a short piece about the project here.
Results
Internal
Unexpected voluntary employee participation across all our US-based offices, C-suite, and Airbnb founders (even Malala contributed a portrait when she heard about it.) The project led to a safe space internal discussion series on race, empowered employees of color to speak freely in strategic business conversations about improving inclusivity, and played a role in the creation of Airbnb’s first product design team dedicated to addressing discrimination.
External
The internal campaign was eventually released as a national social campaign to represent the company’s values. It later inspired the creative direction of our global brand team’s successful #WeAccept campaign featured in 100+ global outlets. This culminated in a Superbowl ad (which I made a brief appearance in) and an event at Cannes Festival of Creativity discussing discrimination and acceptance (covered by Fast Company).
Core Team /
Bryce Daniel (Photographer), Anna Sangusin (Art director/designer), Jason Mamaril (Art director), Michael Sui, Alex Anderson, Ariem Anthony + so many others.
My Role /
Project lead & strategist