Dwell’s Editorial Standards

Mission

For more than 20 years, Dwell has championed home design that improves people’s lives. We feature new ideas about what a home can and should be, offer expert advice for making your own space a better place to live, and provide a marketplace for the best-designed products available. In everything we do, we advocate for design that is… 

Humanistic: It responds to the needs of real people and frames new ways of living.

Forward-looking: It embraces new building methods and improves its social andecological context.

Optimistic: It embodies our core belief that design can shape a better world. 

Objectivity, Transparency, and Ethics

For years, Dwell’s audience has depended on us to deliver open, honest conversation about the best of what the design world has to offer. Decisions about what we cover come from our editorial team only; members of other teams, such as sales, marketing, or the larger ownership of Recurrent Ventures do not dictate our work. This goes for outside parties, such as advertisers and partners from whom we receive affiliate revenue, as well.

Dwell and its writers do not accept freebies or handouts of any kind with the confirmed promise of coverage or tone of said coverage. We carefully review and vet only what we think will be valuable and useful to our audience, and often work with other identified experts in the field to communicate what we’ve found to you. We accept samples of products to test or shoot, returned, regifted, or donated when appropriate, and travel and hospitality experiences for coverage. If a product or experience is covered that was not paid for by Dwell, it is always made clear to the reader, either in the text of the piece or in a disclaimer afterwards.

Pieces from which we could make affiliate revenue always include a relevant disclaimer, and all sponsored, branded or partnership content clearly labeled as such. If a party involved in a piece has a preexisting relationship to another party or entity in it, it will be noted in the text.

We do not show editorial pieces to sources or subjects before publication. We do not show interview subjects questions in advance. Barring extreme circumstances, we do not remove posts. And we believe in treating the freelancers we work with well and compensating them fairly. For details on our rates and contracts for freelancers, please refer to our pitch guidelines.

Accuracy and Accountability

Much of Dwell’s work is in the field. For all of our major stories, we visit the architecture that we’re covering and offer first hand accounts of what it’s really like to be there. Whenever we can, we will let you know that we were there to experience something or meet someone, and what that experience was like.

The Dwell editorial team prides itself on our well-sourced and vetted home tours, reported pieces, interviews, and essays, among the myriad formats we produce. All our pieces are edited by at least one editor, usually two; the stories in our print magazine are seen by many eyes before publication and are all independently fact checked and copy edited.

We strive to be as transparent as possible about where the information you’re receiving has come from, be it a primary source or secondary source; the latter is cited and linked out to whenever possible. We reference and link back to previous coverage to provide our audience with as much information as possible whenever possible.

When a potential error is brought to our attention, an editor will reverify it, and, if a change needs to be made, will be done with language approved by editorial leadership, and with the correction noted at the bottom of the piece. Pieces that have received updates will be noted similarly, and/or by the original and updated publish date.

Fact Checking

We have a roster of talented fact checkers who work on pieces that run in our print magazine, and sensitive or complex web stories. They—or an editor or writer responsible for the piece—will reach out to sources and/or subjects to clarify the general tenor of conversations, or specific names/dates/figures/locations etc. We do not send full sentences or sections of pieces, draft or finished, as written, to subjects or sources.

Photography, Video, and Illustration

We do not stage home shoots; all furniture and art in Dwell photo shoots belong to the residents. The same goes for images: we do not heavily alter or heavily retouch images in post production in a way that would mislead the viewer. We strive to capture an honest representation of how a home is inhabited—with all of its character, beauty, and imperfections—and champion our photographers’ unique styles and points of view. We value experimentation, creativity, humor, and a human connection in all our visuals, and we closely collaborate with photographers and stylists on custom still life shoots. All of our illustrations are custom commissions.

Our Editorial Team

Dwell is staffed by a talented team of journalists, led by Editor-in-Chief William Hanley. We have several verticals: Design, Culture, Ideas, Guides and Shop. View our full masthead.

Artificial Intelligence Policy

The only permitted use of AI Tools at Recurrent Media brands (including Dwell) in the creation of editorial text and copy is as a reference tool. Using an AI Tool to create consumer-facing written content is prohibited. Additionally, using an AI Tool to create anything that deviates from the spirit of originality, or that crosses lines into plagiarism, fabrication, or work that would be considered to be anything other than the author’s own will not be tolerated.

If an AI Tool has been used for research purposes, any such use must be disclosed in writing to any applicable reviewers. Such disclosure should include specific references to where and how the AI Tool was used.