#125 :: IxDA & SDN Oslo August Meetup :: Design ❤️ Equality
Details
In June we marched together, and it was a beautiful celebration of equality, diversity, and love. But the conversation is far from over.
On the 14th of August we will meet at MESH and, in collaboration with the brilliant friends of Service Design Network Norway, host an event on equality. We want to know what we, as an organization and a community, can do to foster positive, inclusive practices in both our work and the work environment we thrive in.
We will discuss how we tend to simplify demographics when designing experiences, and how to embrace the complexity given by a diverse user base. And how to put the “fringe users” front and center by challenging not only the outcome of our work, but the way we structure the team and we choose our colleagues.
Meet our speakers!
Anna Kirah:
Anna is Managing Director of Design without Borders. As a Design anthropologist and psychologist, Anna Kirah creates meaningful, relevant, and valuable solutions through understanding people´s motivations and expectations. https://www.annakirah.com/
"What can we do as designers? I was asked to speak about designing for equality. I have thought about this and think about the projects we work on that enhance inequality when we support the needs of companies. How do we focus on maintaining humanity in an age where we create technical/digital solutions without thinking of the consequences? I don't have the answers but I have lots of questions. Is equality something people want? Is equality something that is a fundamental human right? How can we talk of equality when so much of the work we do only enhances inquality? How can we talk of equality when our world is changing so fast that we are not even capable of understanding the consequences? How can we talk of equality when we there is evidence of the lack thereof? What is our role in this as designers?"
Giulia Bazoli:
Giulia is a researcher and designer at Designit Oslo. Before moving to Norway, she lived in London working for the Government Digital Service (GDS) focusing on redesigning GOV.UK. Across her career, she has been always drawn to gender related issues: from taboos around menstruation affecting rural Indian teenagers to addressing sexual health for the LGBTQ community in Lebanon.
Are we unconsciously designing for a ‘default user’? What are the implications of doing that? Giulia’s talk will focus on ways to create a more diverse and inclusive mindset throughout the design process and to embed those values within your organization, to ultimately create experiences that are truly for everyone.
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IxDA ❤️SDN
For our friends over at SDN, the Interaction Design Association, or IxDA, is the global community of Interaction and User Experience Designers and Lovers. The Oslo chapter was founded back in 2010 (with some backstory) and works tirelessly to create an exciting, inclusive environment for all designers—and people interested in design—that reside in Oslo or are just passing by!
For our friends over at IxDA, Service Design Network (SDN) is a large network of designers, academics and companies around the world. The Norway chapter aims to support the ever-growing Service Design community in Norway and create a forum where people can come together and discuss experiences, challenges and ideas related to Service Design.