Diversity and inclusion are critical in design
Our professional growth depends on it and it may change someone’s life
Este articulo esta disponible en Español — “La diversidad y la inclusión son críticas en el diseño”
Recently I delivered a keynote “Business Embraces Design — what got us here will not take us there” at Interaction Latin America — 2018 | Rio de Janeiro. In one part of my presentation I discussed the importance of diversity and inclusion for our profession, for our organizations and for the people we are designing for.
As design leaders and practitioners we must embrace diversity and inclusion because our professional growth depends on it. The quality and the richness of ideas that we can generate with a diverse team are endless.
After my presentation I received a message from Camilla Moura, a Brazilian UX Designer and Developer, and she allowed me to share it.
Hi Jose! I attended your keynote at ILA 2018. I really hope you enjoy the experience and the city because I really enjoy your presentation.
I’m still thinking about how embracing diversity impacts the business. My country (Brazil) is so full of contrasts that many times I thought about leaving it because it was hard to find a job with a respectful environment, it was hard to be the only girl taking front end development courses. But when I notice that I was one of the few curly women attending the event it feels like it was my duty to fight for companies to understand the value of a diverse team and also promote and develop my community in order to encourage those professionals to step up and shine with equality.
I’m a UX Designer at a big financial company in Brazil, proudly curly woman and soon I’ll be teaching design as a volunteer in a NGO.
Thank you for sharing your inspiring ideas!
Muito obrigada!
Camilla Moura.
Camilla’s message is a reflection of frustration, courage and a call to action for design leaders, practitioners, conference organizers and companies across the board. Her voice echoes many others as they struggle to find opportunities in a supportive and inclusive environment.
Many times, we take our privilege for granted — whether it’s our gender, the color of our skin, or our education. We have to evolve our thinking to ensure that we expand our perspective on what diversity and inclusion means to us and to our organizations. We have to ask ourselves:
- What can we do to promote a more inclusive environment?
- What personal biases are driving some of our behaviors and decisions?
- How can we engage and promote designers, women, people of color and underrepresented minorities?
While we may not be in a position to solve all issues associated with diversity and inclusion, as designers and leaders, we can take some steps.
Perform a self assessment on diversity and inclusion
We have many unconscious biases. We need to make a concerted effort to identify and recognize those behaviors and actions where we may be exclusive rather than inclusive. We can start with a simple list, and as our area of responsibility expands, our list may become a program or a more detailed plan of action.
We need to expand our understanding of diversity and inclusion.
Be aware of passive and active biased behavior
An aspect that is largely missing from this global conversation on diversity, is not only people becoming aware of what unconscious biases we have, but also what unconscious biases we might trigger in other people based on their personality, identity or background.
When we become more tolerant and aware of our own biases, we can help others identify their own and start developing tactics to both handle and mitigate them. If we do not approach it with a flexible mind, change gets crippled when our reactions reinforce those biased behaviors.
Look around our team, our organization
When we get to work, we should look at our team, our division, our organization. Is it diverse? Do we welcome diverse perspectives or are we hiring people that look like us, with a similar education and professional background?
Find a diversity champion, become a champion
Creating or expanding diversity in an organizational environment is not easy. We need to identify an executive champion in our organization. We should become diversity and inclusion champions too. We need to look for ways to align diversity with overall strategic goals for the organization.
Empower our teams
Enable designers to tackle diversity as a design problem. Organize workshops and study groups to identify potential outcomes that embrace a more diverse working environment. At the conclusion of these workshops and activities we must identify a plan of action. In addition, we should follow up with other areas of the organization like Recruiting and Human Resources and Training.
We need to be transparent about our team’s effort and lead by example. These changes may not happen overnight, they may be slow, but it is important that our teams demonstrate what diversity is and we get other areas involved in the process.
Create opportunities and provide visibility to designers in our teams
We must create opportunities to have a broad range of expertise in our teams. We need to hire junior designers, remove some of the restrictions that we or our organization imposes on new hires. An unfortunate trend in the design marketplace is the “minimum of 5 years of experience required, with a stellar portfolio” as the new entry level.
As hiring managers we are not creating opportunities for entry level roles. This creates a vacuum effect as we are not developing the mentors, coaches and leaders of the future.
We are also perpetuating the idea, from a position of privilege, that a college degree is required but equivalent work experience and UX certifications are not enough. We are raising the barrier of entry to a new generation of designers who can challenge us, enrich us and elevate our practice.
We must create a professional development system that requires senior designers to mentor and coach junior designers. Provide a platform for all the people in our team to have visibility in their product teams, in cross functional forums and in different areas of the business.
Open the door to diversity
The fight from minorities, women, POC and underrepresented groups is clear. We need to help each other get a foot in the door, get that first role, or get into a leadership position. We also need to encourage one another to give back, mentor and coach others, facilitate an introduction, make a connection, get someone past the biases of an applicant tracking system.
Promote diversity in Conferences
As presenters and participants we have the duty to ask conference organizers to have a speaker list that is gender-balanced and ethnically diverse.
Demonstrate the value of diversity
We need to identify quantitative and qualitative ways to measure the impact of diversity and inclusion.
Camilla told me that what caught her attention the most during my presentation was the importance of showing executives and business stakeholders the value of diversity within the teams.
Diversity helps us create disruptive solutions. Are we ready to embrace it?
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Camilla Moura for allowing me to share her story, and for her ideas and feedback for this article.
About Jose Coronado’s keynote at Interaction Latin America — 2018 | Rio de Janeiro — Business Embraces Design — what got us here will not take us there
Diversity and inclusion resources
Here is a short list, with some good resources for understanding and expanding our awareness of diversity and inclusion.
John Maeda and Kat Holmes who are big promoters of diversity and inclusion in tech. Here is an article from CreativeMornings with them
Kat Holmes Book Mismatch
John Maeda’s work with the DesignInTech report has a section dedicated to Diversity and Inclusion.
Sara Wachter-Boettcher Book: Technically Wrong — Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech
Cat Small — a designer and developer from New York City. She writes and speaks about many themes including diversity.
Georgie Bottomley & Lizzie Dyson founded LadiesthatUX
Reshma Saujani founded Girls Who Code
Christina Wodtke founded Women Talk Design
GenderAvenger, founded by Gina Glantz and Susan Askew
Mariana Valenzuela Silva y Carolina Sepúlveda R. fundaron + Mujeres en UX — + Mujeres en UX Argentina, Más Mujeres UX Perú, MasMujeresUx.Mx
If one of these groups is not established in your country, in your city, or in your organization, you could start a working group, a chapter or a Meetup.
