CannonDesign releases Deja the Dynamo children's book

March 12, 2024

We are proud to share that CannonDesign has released its first-ever children’s book, “Designing Dreams: An Official Deja the Dynamo Adventure.”

The book is now available for purchase at Deja the Dynamo's official website.

Deja the Dynamo is a creative, inquisitive young girl who uses design thinking to explore her world. With a lively spirit and avid curiosity, she leads her friends Leo and Annie on adventures to learn about architecture, design, science nature and more.

In her inaugural adventure, Deja and her friends discover the world of design thinking at Summer Science Camp. With the help of a whimsical dream machine, snow cones and bubblegum, and guidance from Deja’s mom, a professional architect, the friends work together to create the building of their dreams. The book is co-authored by Andrea Martin, Sharla Toller and Chris Whitcomb and illustrated by Jess Wier.

Deja and her friends learn about famous architects on their first day of Summer Science Camp with Ms. Rosie.

Dejathedynamo Firstdayatcamp — Deja and her friends learn about famous architects on their first day of Summer Science Camp with Ms. Rosie.

It has been an absolute joy bringing Deja to life, but the goal is for her to do much more than make people smile. As most people know, the architecture and related design professions face serious diversity challenges. Our hope is Deja will connect with diverse youth and inspire more of them to pursue careers in our profession. We will also be donating a portion of proceeds to the ACE Mentor Program of America, an organization that works with high-school students to engage them around AEC professions.

Deja the Dynamo has been in development for over a year and was fully funded and supported by Amp, CannonDesign’s in-house innovation incubator. It is one of multiple products Amp plans to release in 2024.

Within a Dream Machine, Deja and her friends imagine different types of buildings, including one made of blue raspberry snow cones.

Dejathedynamo Snowcones Dreamdesign — Within a Dream Machine, Deja and her friends imagine different types of buildings, including one made of blue raspberry snow cones.

Today is Deja the Dynamo’s launch, but there’s much more ahead. We plan to bring her to life across our firm, in our offices, in our communities, and with our clients. We hope Deja’s impact is far-reaching and that there are numerous new adventures ahead. We hope you love the first book...and stay tuned.

Beyond visiting the website to purchase Deja’s first adventure and/or read her blog, you can also follow her on Instagram.

Order Deja's first adventure today

Amp

Amp is our innovation incubator that amplifies ideas from across our network to test, refine, empower and deliver novel opportunities that represent strategic advantages for our firm and fuel purposeful change.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Our team is stronger, our work is better and our impact is greater when we recognize, include and amplify diverse voices. There is no place in our firm or our profession for racism, bias or inequity, and we’re doing the work to drive change.