The 'Designing for Equity Project' evolved from our early exploration of gender as an important factor in the creation of, understanding of and interaction with engineered objects.

A previous CCT study had revealed that girls think about technology as embedded in and facilitating human interaction. The findings also confirmed those of other researchers that women's desire for communication, collaboration, and integration are not central to the masculine technological viewpoint and that gender-specific social expectations play a role in limiting girls' capacity to be creators, shapers and producers of technology. Based on this research, CCT speculated that the activity of design was a promising way to support alternative pathways for girls into the world of engineered objects.

In Designing for Equity, CCT researchers developed a computer-based graphics program called Imagine that enabled girls to create devices and machines from their own imagination. Imagine contained basic draw and paint tools as well as labeling and animation capabilities. The Imagine software served as a legitimating environment where girls received encouragement to think of themselves as designers and inventors.