LINK PBC Hosts IDSA's Women in Design Deep Dive Kickoff
In March, LINK PBC had the opportunity to sponsor the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) Women in Design Deep Dive: Be Unconventional. We were thrilled to kick off the event in our studio, hosting a Sip & Sketch for all attendees.
The Deep Dive landed in a fitting week, bookended by National Industrial Design Day (March 5) and International Women's Day (March 8). It brought designers together to celebrate the women shaping our field and to challenge the conventions of how we work.
Kicking things off with a Sip & Sketch
We opened the weekend by welcoming attendees into our new space for an evening of drinks, conversation and, of course, sketching. It was a relaxed way to meet fellow designers, trade stories and get creative energy flowing before the main program.
Hosting in our own studio mattered to us. Our space is where we prototype, test and collaborate every day, and sharing it with the broader design community felt like the right way to set the tone for the weekend.
What we took away
The speakers reminded us of the responsibility designers carry in shaping the future with and for others, and of the value of treating our own life experiences as a design superpower. A few ideas that stuck with our team:
Jimena Vergara Sanz spoke to designing with people rather than for them, transforming stigma into agency, and embracing expression as a tool for empowerment.
Kelly Lin asked what could emerge if we stopped editing ourselves, highlighting the power of deep listening and the importance of never shrinking ourselves.
Audrey Lankford Barnes showed how embracing diverse skill sets makes us truly unconventional. Her documentary RE:Purposed offered an inspiring look at the evolving landscape of industrial design and the unique voices shaping its future.
Meija Jacobs shared that finding your voice is the most powerful thing you can do: learn to fall, fail, recover and rise.
Jessica Pastor Tomás reminded us that tools do not equal mastery, especially in the age of AI. Prioritizing listening over pushing and presence over ego keeps us grounded as technology evolves, and intuition is something we build over time.
Why this matters to LINK
As a public benefit corporation and certified B Corp, we believe design should be a force for good. That means creating products that improve people's lives, and it also means investing in the community that makes that work possible.
Supporting events like the Deep Dive is one way we show up as leaders in the industrial design community. The themes of the weekend, from co-design and inclusion to thoughtful use of new tools, reflect the values we bring to every project. We're proud to help create spaces where designers, especially those whose voices have historically been underrepresented, can connect, learn and push the field forward.
Thank you
A huge thank you to IDSA Women in Design, the speakers, and everyone who joined us, shared their stories and made the weekend so meaningful. We left energized and inspired to keep being unconventional in how we design.
