Design Manifesto

As a Black Woman, Ghanaian-American, FGLI student, and the oldest child in a single-parent household, I identify with various underrepresented communities. As a result, I do not just design with users in mind but I design with underrepresented user groups at the forefront of my design thinking. Although I have a deep appreciation for user-centric design, I believe (similar to other phenomenons) UX can fall short, by unknowingly omitting a population who already suffers from a lack of designs for them or their community needs.

How does this influence my commitment to the design stages? For starters, to be a UX Designer of underrepresented backgrounds is to be a UX Designer who contributes greatly to the empathy stage. Although this stage is fundamental to the HCI design approach I get a bit more involved by going the extra mile. To go the extra mile requires me to be flexible in how I detail my specified target user. For starters, if my UX team and I confirm we want to design for children I would intentionally raise questions such as: how will the role of the child’s parents influence their interaction with the design? To be flexible in the empathy stage is to uphold active listening with my UX teammates and the need-finding participants. Active listening is very crucial in this regard considering these community groups are not used to an ear being turned toward them, and this also ensures I attend to their pain points as much as possible!

In summation, to be a UX designer is to be a designer who leads with empathy, and to be an underrepresented UX designer is to be a groundbreaking designer, doing what has never been done before, which is to extend a hand to those who have been left hanging.