UX: Solving the problems of others before investigating our own (part 2)
As designers, it is part of our job to solve problems, but it is imperative to do the groundwork around understanding the complexity of problems before we go on assuming solutions.
To be able to recognize how design has gotten us into this systemic mess, may offer insight into how to get us out of it, or at least, through it. Taking accountability is the beginning of a long and important process of recognizing history and doing our best to heal from it as well as, evolve out of it. It is through my experience of being a UX Designer and Researcher, that I have adopted this practice of brainstorming possible solutions to ubiquitous design errors. I’ve come to realize that many of the mundane atrocities people face can be softened through design, in fact, it is the lack of and/or poor and inconsiderate design that makes surviving in this world so hard for so many.
Whether we want to believe it or not, we are living in a system that has been designed. There is no other reason why the same families have been waiting in line at the Food Bank for generations, or why one out of every three Black boys born today can expect to be incarcerated. The system, my comrades, was designed to benefit a few at the cost of many; in case that wasn’t overly clear. It started in the “beginning.” Colonists designed a takeover and theft of over 1.5 billion acres of Indigenous occupied land, which began the story of what is now called the Americas. What follows would spark the fire of oppression that the US has been burning in ever since.
Freedom seems to be a hot topic these days, perhaps it always has been, but when did “free” begin to mean: paying for your basic needs in order to live peacefully on this planet.
This is design. We, as designers, now have a complexly simple choice to make: perpetuate or evolve.
When the time to “ideate” comes along in the Design Thinking process, it is valuable to recognize the identity of those who are ideating and how that intersects with the project's audience. Whether there is an intersection or not, the data is noteworthy. Designers, however unbiased we claim to be, are not beyond the socialized construct of reality, and therefore have an inherent subjective bias, always. To name this is preliminary but also important. It should be named at the beginning of the process, written on the contract, in an effort to set the stage for the observation and synthesis that will follow.
As we enter the solution zone, we must do so carefully. I am asking the design industry to take its methodologies and soften them, and if willing, to see the patriarchal nature of them. We “tackle” problems like the guys in helmets and shoulder pads. What if we walked into the room of ideation, with soft steps and deep breaths, through openness, and compassion, while we engage in an empathetic synthesis of the research gathered?
In the spirit of naming identities: I am currently in the middle of a case study that is complex in the way that my identity intersects with that of research. I am studying my own experience and how it is shared with many others. Much of my writing on Medium stems from the fact that I have to write a weekly blog as apart of my UX Bootcamp contract. For 6 months after graduating, I committed to write a blog, reach out to 8 people regarding an open position, and create a design of some sort, every week. If I do all that, and I still do not get a job, then I don’t have to pay for the program. It seemed like a good deal at the time.
I have been writing as a form of creative processing since I was 5. The blog portion of the weekly mandates was the least of my concerns, in fact, I looked forward to the excuse to write. I write a lot about the aspects of UX Design that excite me, the potential that I see in the industry as a whole. I talk about the value that comes from conducting research that is nuanced and dynamic. I try to leverage the iterative and agile process of design methodologies that are striving to evolve the way in which we operate. I also write critiques on the design of the hiring process, as it is my most demanding research right now. My writing is rooted in this subjective experience.
Alongside all this, I have spent the last 20 weeks reaching, searching, and exhausting for the chance to participate in an industry that is currently failing me. It’s a paradox that, on a good day, I can smile in the face of, and go on with the day’s duties, however on other days, I feel completely overcome with the weight that I am barking up a tree that I know is actually a cell tower. Meaning… I am kissing the ass of a system I would like to see collapse; ok fine… “evolve.”
It is in perfect capitalist-design fashion, that we ask those being most affected, to do the work of developing a solution. You hear it often these days, “don’t like your scenario?” — “Fix it!” This thinking stems from an individualist framework, one that most of us were taught at a very young age. Indiviualist thinking does not foster a community of accountability for one another. It does, however, tell you, “you’re on your own in this world, and everyone is racing you for a seat to the same prize.” It does make us want to be successful so we can have security and can “provide for ourselves.” Remember when people use to provide for each other? Most of us probably can’t remember. Most of those stories were destroyed. My point here is that the design industry is a product of its environment, ie: it is embedded in capitalism.
I am one of so many new, talented, and versatile UX industry professionals who are trying to find their seat on the bus to “career town” — which despite not being a very happy place, seems mandatory for everyone to go. My hope is this: that we can take what it is we know to be capital T, True, and use that to demand that all of these archaic and inherent systems evolve into sustainable, equitable, and responsible entities.
How? Well, as the last 1500 words have shown, we need to start with ourselves and then we need to figure it out together. We can start by asking ourselves:
- What are our responsibilities we hold to the people using our product?
- What is it we want to offer and at what cost, even if not monetary?
- What values do we carry?
- How can we apply these values to every interaction both within the company and the platform?
- What effect do we want to have on the users of our products/services?
- Who may benefit and who may be harmed by our (design) decisions?
Feel free to contact me with ideas you may have, or if you would like to collaborate on something!
