Equity-Centered Design with Maddy Mackin Freeman

This designer insights series spotlights the visionaries shaping the future of work. In this edition, we connect with Maddy Mackin Freeman to explore how equity-centered, human-first design enhances the workplace experience.

Designer Spotlight

Maddy Mackin Freeman, Design Director

Maddy Mackin Freeman brings a background in fine art and interior design that gives her a unique perspective on workspace. Her passion for cultivating community fuels her creative vision, as she believes physical spaces can enhance lives. Blending form and function, she approaches every project as an opportunity to engage, empower, and inspire.

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Q: How does equity-centered design create better communities?

The way I view interior design is taking architecture and making it human scale. It is how we physically interact with a space, how we move through it, and how it supports our work, or in some cases, how it doesn’t.

When you think about equity in design, you are really thinking about empathy. You are trying to look at a space from all different access points. It is super important with empathy in general, but especially with equity, to actually hear from the communities you are serving. That is why it is so important to get input and buy-in from different user groups. That might be employees who will be using the space, or experts who specialize in designing for neurodivergent users.

It is really about making sure we are considering different ways people use a space based on where they are coming from and what they specifically need. That applies both to equity in personal experience — who a person is, how their brain works, what their background might be — and also equity in the context of their role at the company. What their job requires and what helps them do it well.

Across our conversations, many people have shared that their previous workspaces made it difficult to focus and do their best work. Making that easier really matters, and it supports the bottom line for companies as well. Hiring and training are significant investments, and retention is one of the most efficient and economic way to run a company.

One of the ways you keep people is by designing a space that makes them feel good about where they come to work every day. A space where they feel good about the materials, the tools, and the environment they have to do their best work. 

Q: As sustainability is increasingly becoming a non-negotiable across industries, how are designers incorporating resilience, circularity, and low-impact strategies into their work? What does sustainable design look like in practice?

Sustainability is a really important aspect of design in general, and we incorporate sustainable thinking into our regular design practices. That includes things like water use, having bottle-filling stations, or even going down to the basics of what our cabinet doors are made of and whether that material is sustainable. Asking if it is FSC-certified, if it comes from responsible forest practices, or if it is a regenerative material.

We also look at the larger accreditations like LEED, WELL Building, and Living Future. Those certifications can be a bit of a barrier, especially for interior projects, because they are quite expensive. But we still follow the core principles and incorporate those into our design work.

Product manufacturers are always coming up with new ways to be carbon neutral or even carbon negative. Having a negative carbon footprint means their manufacturing, material sourcing, and overall process are offset through positive actions like tree planting or other regenerative efforts. So material selection becomes a big part of how we incorporate sustainability.

Then there is the operational side, encouraging sustainable workplace behaviors. That might be bottle fillers, thinking about what our lighting system looks like, using occupancy sensors, and so on.

Sustainability and longevity are intrinsically tied, because the more often you have to redo your space, the less sustainable it becomes. We do try to recycle materials during demolition, but it is not always possible. So designing a space that is not super trendy is important. It should feel good, modern, fresh, and clean, but not like something that will look dated in a couple of years. We want it to last as your employees stay in the space.

Q: Looking ahead to 2040, how might the workspace shift from static environments to predictive, adaptive systems?

It is hard to predict what the future will look like. But I do think that no matter how AI evolves, there will always be a need for social and human interaction. We have to make sure we are not giving up those vital human moments just because AI can make certain tasks more efficient. Keeping that human piece intact is going to be really important. 

This ties back to our earlier conversations about sustainability, longevity, and user experience. We want to avoid designing technology so permanently into a space that it becomes cost prohibitive to remove or update it in a few years as things continue to shift and change. For example, we try not to build something around a specific monitor size because we have no idea what monitors will look like in five, ten, or fifteen years. 

We are always thinking about designing flexibility into workstations, conference rooms, and AV setups so that spaces can adapt as technology evolves. That way we are not tied to something that will be outdated almost immediately. 

When it comes to how people actually interact with their workspace, I think it comes back to the flexible spaces we have been prioritizing for the last decade or two. Making room for impromptu collaboration is still really important. As we think about AI and other emerging tools, we also need to think about how to integrate technology into those flexible spaces in a way that allows them to keep evolving. We want these areas to be places where new technology can live without locking us into something that will limit future change. 

Q: The oldest of Gen. Alpha will enter the workforce around 2030. As both a mother and designer, how do you think that their new values and perspectives around technology and authenticity will influence the future of how we design workspaces?

Well, I think this is a really, really, really, important reason to be bringing up new designers and mentoring people. When you talk about Gen Alpha entering the workforce, they are also going to be entering interior design, architecture, and construction. So making sure we are hearing the perspectives of young designers is going to be incredibly important. 

There is that classic conundrum where leadership with more experience tends to be older and, in not-so-positive cases, seen as out of touch or not understanding the needs of younger employees. So again, pushing that emphasis on listening matters. 

Workplace strategy is such a valuable tool because it gives you both the qualitative and quantitative data that help make a space work for the most people. That is ultimately our goal. As workspace design shifts, we are going to need to take much more seriously all aspects of AV and the ways we support remote and digital collaboration. It needs to feel seamless and easy to use for people across all generations, but especially for Gen Alpha. 

In typical millennial fashion, I love Gen Z, and I am very excited about Gen Alpha. I am genuinely looking forward to hearing perspectives from generations outside my own, because that is what the future looks like. It is important that we design for them while also considering older generations who may not have as much experience with certain technologies. 

So balancing that line between creating a highly functional, technology-forward workspace and ensuring it remains accessible for everyone is going to be a challenge we continue to work on and try to solve. 

Q: What do you consider “timeless design” in the workspace, and what will still be relevant and enduring in the future?

This is one of those questions you can answer in the negative. When we look at something now and think, “Oh my gosh, I do not want that in my space,” it typically comes down to things that were overly trendy or tied to a specific moment in time.

Keeping things simple and clean is really important. When I say “clean,” I mean not overly decorative, not going over the top or making things really splashy or trendy.

Being thoughtful about how we bring in color and materiality matters. Every element should have a purpose and fit into the overall concept. I always tell my designers that if someone asks why something is there, you should have a good answer. Intentionality is really the short answer to that question.

Create a backdrop that allows people to fill the space with their own personalities, items, and memories. Giving them a space that feels like a blank canvas tends to age better. At the same time, they still need to feel warm, comfortable, inviting, and accessible. Balancing those priorities is just part of the work of design.

Q: What advice or guiding principles would you like to share with the next generation of designers?

Listening is the best tool you have. Design is a lot of work, and it is work we love, but it is easy to get wrapped up in everything you put into it.

So, I always come back to being open. Open to new ideas, open to collaboration with other designers, and open to what you hear from clients, stakeholders, or even people you talk to in passing, then being able to actually apply those lessons.

Listening and adaptability. Those are the biggest ones for me.

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