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Navigating the nexus between design innovation and practical application reveals a stark truth: Constraints, not freedoms, often spur the most creative solutions. Our journey into accessible furniture and product design is less about overcoming limitations and more about embracing the profound potential of human-centric design. Imagine designers not just as creators but as researchers, delving deep into the daily lives of older individuals and people with disabilities through intensive ethnographic research. This approach involves hundreds of hours spent observing diverse populations in their most familiar environmentstheir homes. Here, every interaction and every struggle vividly illuminates the real needs and opportunities for innovation. Empathy and Design With In October 2023, our consumer preference testing for the recent Pottery Barn collection marked a pivotal moment. Picture this: Dozens of users, each facing unique challenges, interacting with our prototypes. We observed intently, listened carefully, and learned from every gesturewhether reaching out, hesitating, or expressing relief. Each moment provided invaluable insights, directly shaping the evolution of our designs, from initial feedback to final concepts. What does it truly mean to design with someone? Collaboration is key. Its a dynamic interplay of give and take, where users lead with their experiences, and designers follow with their skills. This approach isnt just about making do; its about making things better. By transforming our design process into a dialogue rather than a monologue, we ensure our creations are not just useful, but transformative. We call this approach Design With, which means were designing with our target consumers. Empathy isnt just a buzzword; its our blueprint. Inspired by the real challenges faced by our late founder, Michael Graves, and the broader community, we have embraced immersive empathyspending days in wheelchairs and navigating with canes for extended periodsnot just to imagine but to truly understand the barriers our users face. During the past 20 years, weve also faced our own disabilities, temporary and permanent, which have brought the issues to our own lives. This isn’t about sympathy; it’s about strategy. By actively putting ourselves in the shoes of those we design with, we transform empathy into action. Our commitment to Design With rather than Design For not only meets but anticipates users needs, creating solutions that are as innovative as they are inclusive. Each solution should mirror human complexity The future of accessible design is inspiring, and we look forward with purposeinviting designers, brands, and companies to join us. With each project, we edge closer to breaking down barriers, not just in physical spaces, but in perceptions. Our goal is to always craft designs that go beyond accommodation. We strive for solutions that are anticipatory, functional, and beautifulcelebrating the diversity of ability and preference. In accessible design, the true challenge isnt simply balancing creativity with practicality. Its ensuring every solution reflects the complexity of real human lives. Thats why, for decades, weve grounded our work in ethnographic research and consumer preference testing: spending time in peoples homes, observing daily routines, and turning feedback into meaningful, inclusive products. This isnt theoryits design shaped by lived experience. Weve seen firsthand how listening deeply and designing with, not for, leads to better outcomes for everyone. The opportunity now is for more designers, brands, and businesses to take part. Ask deeper questions. Watch how people really live. Invite feedback early and often. The more of us who commit to designing with empathy and real-world insight, the more inclusiveand innovativeour shared future will be. Ben Wintner is CEO of Michael Graves Design.
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E-Commerce
Ask almost any pediatrician or child expert, and they will tell you: Good nutrition is the foundation for healthy development, especially during the first 1,000 days of a childs life. When children are well-nourished, they are better able to grow, learn, and engage with their communities, and to be resilient in the face of illness. Undernutrition is linked to nearly half of all deaths in children under five. Today, an estimated 148 million young children are affected by stuntingbeing too short for their age as a result of chronic undernutrition, often starting in the womb. Stunting isnt just about height; it reflects lasting setbacks in brain development, immune strength, and overall healthconsequences that can limit a childs potential for life. Another 45 million children suffer from wasting, a life-threatening condition where they are dangerously thin for their height. There is enough food in the world to feed all children everywhere, and yet, we are still not on track to achieve global nutrition targets by 2030. We are facing a pivotal moment for the worlds children. Poverty, climate change, and humanitarian crises pose critical challenges to feeding children sustainably. The sheer magnitude of the obstacles can seem overwhelming, but there is incredible news: The child nutrition crisis is completely solvable, if we come together to scale up sustainable solutions. A core part of UNICEFs work is preventing malnutrition by improving childrens and womens access to nutritious, safe, affordable, and sustainable diets. We know what to do, but we need financing, at the right time, directed at the right places. A solution aimed at ending child undernutrition The Child Nutrition Fund (CNF), led by UNICEF, is changing how we tackle child undernutritionby making funding smarter, more coordinated, and built to scale. The CNF unlocks government investment by pooling global resources and expanding access to proven solutions. The ambition is bold: Reach 320 million women and children every year by 2030. To make that happen, the CNF is working to mobilize $2 billion over the next five yearsinviting partners to help drive lasting, system-level change for the worlds most vulnerable children. The CNF is a massive undertaking that has the potential to change the lives of millions of children and women. With reductions in foreign aid putting more children at risk than ever, innovative partnershipslike the one driving the CNFare even more urgent. A partnership effort to realize impact Achieving goals at this scale means involving some of the worlds most influential people and organizations. The support of founding partners such as the Gates Foundation, the Childrens Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FDCO) of the UK government has been critical. For example, the Gates Foundations initial $70 million contribution supported CNFs development and launch, opened conversations for initial deals on scaling up maternal nutrition services,and helped local therapeutic food manufacturers expand production to meet unprecedented demand. Likewise, the respective $79 million and 21 million investments from the CIFF and FDCO to date demonstrate the catalytic nature of the fund and the necessity of partnership to meet its goals. Momentum for the CNF continued at the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit in Paris in March, where Kirk Humanitarian committed the first pledge of$125 millionto accelerate adoption of prenatal supplements in high burden countries that have demonstrated readiness and political commitment for long-term, sustainable scale up. Kirk Humanitarian has already deployed over $34 million for 16 million bottles of prenatal supplements to the CNF in support of UNICEFs Improving Maternal Nutrition Acceleration Plan. At the same time, the Gates Foundation announced an additional $50 million commitment to the CNF to continue and expand on its work through 2028. Also at the N4G, Jackie and Mike Bezos committed up to $500 million to the CNF in a landmark effort to end child undernutrition. This historic investment is poised to save millions of livesnot just today, but for generations to come. The matching component of their commitment is intended to inspire others to step up and multiply the impact. The Womens Tennis Association Foundation has also joined the effort, supporting the CNF through UNICEFs Improving Maternal Nutrition Acceleration Plan to prevent anemia and malnutrition in pregnant women. These partnerships support the CNFs ability to build robust and sustainable systems and strong infrastructure to create a future where no child suffers from undernutrition. Promising early results show that it is possible to end undernutrition These investments are already delivering results. In Pakistan, UNICEF, backed by the CNF, launched a program to bring essential nutrition and health services to the countrys most vulnerable communities.Through the CNF Match Windowwhich enables governments to double their investments in essential nutrition suppliesmore than 150,000 women received nutritional supplements leading to healthier pregnancies and stronger birth outcomes. The results were so compelling that Pakistans Ministry of Health partnered with UNICEF to scale up the program to reach 2 million women. Weve known for a long time the devastating toll malnutrition has on a childs ability to live a healthy, full life. But with the CNF, what once felt insurmountable now has a clear path forward. By reimagining how we finance solutionsblending public and private investment, sustaining long-term support, and incentivizing government actionwere not just responding to a crisis, were building a system designed to end it. The tools are in place. The momentum is real. And now, theres an opportunity for bold partners to come together and change the future. With the right investments, we will end child undernutritionfor good. Michele Walsh is executive vice president and chief philanthropy officer of UNICEF USA.
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E-Commerce
The 2025 WNBA season is upon us, and its already making waves. From Caitlin Clark draining logo threes to Paige Bueckers debuting for the Dallas Wings, and the Golden State Valkyries hitting the court for the first time, pre-season coverage has been electric. For those of us whove spent years advocating for womens sports, the buzz surrounding this season isnt just exciting, its a powerful reflection of the leagues progress and promise. Rising viewership. New sponsorships. Sold-out arenas. Long-overdue increases in minimum salaries making their way into collective bargaining agreements. These are signs that the tide is turning. But lets not mistake momentum for a final destination. The truth is, were still playing catch-up inside systems that were never built with equity in mind. Earlier this year, I sat on a panel during NBA All-Star Weekend titled, Its Not Womens Sports, Its Sports, Stupid. I loved the sentiment of this framing. If youre into professional sports, it doesn’t matter whether you’re watching men or women playthe competition has the same power to captivate and inspire. It’s why some of us dare to dream of a future where the label “women’s sports” is no longer needed. But while we may aspire to treat all sports equally, pretending the playing field is already level overlooks decades of systemic inequity built into the longer-running, more prominent sports structures. Build equity into the foundation Take the WNBA. While the league continues to break new ground, it operates within a framework borrowed from a time before it existed. Revenue sharing, salary caps, travel accommodations, facilities, and even All-Star Game bonusesnone were designed with parity in mind. Even the most groundbreaking updates to collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) represent incremental fixes within outdated architecture. A stark example: The NBAs salary cap is orders of magnitude higher than the WNBAs, despite surging fan engagement with the womens game. These legacy constraints hamper growth, no matter how bold the vision. But what if it didnt have to be this way? At Parity, we work with a community of 1,100+ professional women athletes across 85 sports, from alpine skiing to American football, wheelchair basketball to windsurfing. From our broad vantage point we see what happens when emerging sports properties reimagine structures, athlete resources, and rewards to build equity into the foundation from day one. Consider Grand Slam Track. Born from the minds of Olympians, it offers equal prize money and visibility for men and women in every meet. Or CrossFit Games, which has featured equal prize money since its earliest days. Premier Rugby Sevens goes even further, with mens and womens teams competing for the same club, their scores aggregated to decide the championship, and all athletes paid equally. Then theres TST (The Soccer Tournament), where both mens and womens brackets offer a $1 million winner-take-all prize. When the womens tournament launched, organizers didnt scale the prize downthey matched it. These arent just feel-good stories. Theyre working models. Transparency as a baseline Many up-and-coming leagues didnt inherit inequity; they sidestepped it. They launched with transparent pay, athlete revenue shares, integrated maternity leave policies, and athlete ownership stakes. Sponsorship and content rights are structured to empower players, not just teams. Media distribution is increasingly direct-to-consumer, giving fans deeper access and athletes greater control. And guess what? Brands are noticing. These properties are fast becoming hidden gems of sports marketing, attracting culturally relevant sponsors and a younger, values-driven fan base hungry for authenticity. Now imagine if all sports leagues had started this way. Picture revenue-sharing models that prioritize athletes. Governance that centers the athlete voice. Pay transparency as a baseline. Media rights split equitably. Built-in support for mental health, parenting, and career transition. Fan experiences designed for an inclusive, digitally native audience. This isnt wishful thinking. Its a blueprint for sustainable growth. The opportunity is clear For brands and media companies, the opportunity is clear. The next generation of sports fans is demanding more than entertainment. They want alignment with their values. They want to invest in systems that elevate, not exclude. The organizations that recognize this shift and act now will be the ones who define the future of sports marketing. Of course, we should celebrate the WNBA and NWSL for pushing forward. Their recent CBAs matter. And yes, tennis has made strides too, with equal prize money at Grand Slams, even as disparities persist in smaller tournaments. But we cant limit our ambitions to what can be retrofitted into the past. The real question is: What could we create if we built it right from the start? Lets stop thinking about womens sports as the undercard. Lets stop asking athletes to work twice as hard for half as much. Instead, lets imagineand builda future where equity isnt an afterthought. Its the foundation. To the investors, brands, and media companies: The future of sports wont wait. The blueprint is here. The audience is ready. The question is, are you bold enough to build it? Leela Srinivasan is CEO of Parity.
Category:
E-Commerce
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