Code of Conduct

  • Do you need to report an incident?

  • Do you need immediate help?

Austin Design Week (ADW) is a week-long celebration of Design in Austin; we are here to celebrate you and are excited to come together as a larger representative community. ADW brings together designers from across disciplines to showcase their work, learn from one another, collaborate and celebrate all the creative communities in Austin. Austin Design Week also invites the greater Austin community and visitors to learn about and celebrate design with us. Design Week is intended to elevate design in Austin for the future of our city.

Austin Design Week is committed to providing a safe, and welcoming environment for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, ability, physical appearance, age, race, or religion.

We are a non-profit organization and almost everyone involved is volunteering their personal time. We are grateful for and respectful of everyone who makes Austin Design Week happen!

We believe our community should:

  • Explore all kinds of design. Austin Design Week is made up of architects, visual designers, product designers, service designers, graphic designers and more. We celebrate designers, those new to design, design enthusiasts and those exploring. Help us welcome everyone.

  • Celebrate and be respectful of each other's work and ideas.

  • Believe design is made meaningful by considering all of the end users and stakeholders; therefore, it’s crucial we make a place for all.

  • Be committed to learning about and supporting other design practices to further the conversation on design in Austin.

  • Participate in respectful conversation. While we support and encourage friendly discourse, remember to do so with respect, and to work toward the growth of everyone involved.

  • Help us welcome everyone.

Unacceptable Behavior

We have a zero tolerance harassment policy that applies to all attendees, volunteers, sponsors, hosts, presenters, organizers and board members.

Harassment, generally defined as any behavior that alarms or threatens another person or group, or any behavior that causes excessive discomfort to other people, or breaks any applicable law, is not tolerated.

Harassment may include but is not limited, to the following:

  • Aggressive language, threats or any language directed against another person.

  • Discriminatory jokes and language.

  • Posting sexually explicit or violent material.

  • Posting (or threatening to post) other people's personally identifying information ("doxing").

  • Personal insults, especially those using racist or sexist terms.

  • Violence of any kind.

  • Unwelcome sexual attention.

  • Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior.

  • Repeated harassment of others. In general, if someone asks you to stop, then stop.

Other misconduct that is not tolerated:

  • Disrupting panelists or speakers

  • Disrespecting our hosts’ and event spaces

  • Discarding of refreshment items or other items outside of the designations spaces for recycling or trash

Anyone violating this policy may be removed from Austin Design Week 2021 and not allowed back to any of this year’s events at the discretion of the ADW organizers.

Get Support

You can report any behavior directly to the festival organizers, by doing the following:

If you are participating in a virtual event when an incident occurs, please direct message the Austin Design Week volunteers (via Zoom, or message an ADW admin on Slack. You do not need to reveal any information to the volunteer about the incident if you don’t feel comfortable.

Anonymous Reporting

You can make an anonymous report here. It will go directly to the conference organizers.

We can't follow up an anonymous report with you directly, but we will fully investigate it and take whatever action is necessary to prevent a recurrence.

Slack Community Reporting

Please contact an admin or moderator (designated with a “🔺” in their status) via direct message.

If the person who is harassing you is a member of staff, they will recuse themselves from handling your incident.

All reports will be handled in the strictest confidence. We will respond as promptly as we can.

We appreciate your help in making this a safe environment for everyone.

This policy is a "living" document, and subject to refinement and expansion in the future. Last updated <October 4, 2021>.

Credits for the sources and inspiration of this code of conduct go to the Design and Content Conference and XOXO Fest, as well as the Django Project and many others.