I think we can all say, the system is rigged.
Can we still deny that white privilege isn’t real when having a white name (Joe, Smith, you get the drift) gives you a better chance at landing the job? Or greater incarceration for marginalized minorities, Aboriginals, and Black people (not all Black people are African American, and so I must address in overarching umbrella here)? What about the countless death of Black lives in society with the most recent event that left horror in any decent moral person’s mind? The video of George Floyd showed social media how stereotype, and racism killed him; leaving him the last word, I can’t breathe, as a symbol of how Black people are simply surviving in a society that’s designed to make them fail.
I know that it wasn’t a single white police officer that killed George Floyd. Same with the following Black lives that trail behind, and in front of him. It was the racism and stereotypes implemented within the system to exclude/marginalize their lives throughout history. This doesn’t only apply to Black, but all marginalized minorities as well.
Islamaphobia, Negrophobia and Yellow Peril. They are identification established to oppress marginalized minorities within white majority countries.
There is also xenophobia; fear or prejudice against people from other countries. However, there are no identifying terms specifically for fear of White people if you search Google. Even though many Europeans have also immigrated to the US and Canada as well. Even though the assimilations and colonizations were carried out by many European countries. This double standard is by design.
Remember when Twitter AI detected a face of Mitch McConnell more preferably to Barack Obama? They said they tested for racial biases, but it also showed how dangerous unintentional design can promote unintended ideas. Facial recognition AI will have difficulty in detecting the darker colour of skin because it doesn’t have enough data set on Black or marginalized communities. I recommend checking out the Vox video here in regarding this issue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok5sKLXqynQ. There is also an article addressing the Twitter Ai bias issue here in Medium with solutions: https://medium.com/swlh/behind-twitters-biased-ai-cropping-and-how-to-fix-it-c0bff96c8d3e
Anyway, the older I get, the more I realize how everything is tailored to a specific majority of the population by design because of colonization (not only in the US and Canada with Aboriginals, but even in places like Puerto Rico, Cuba and South Africa as well).
Hence, as part of the minority group that’s recently being targeted due to pandemic with Asian hate, it is within my responsibility to write this article and reach out in my field of UX/UI, so that I can create a drop of a ripple.
I mean, it’s basic math. Even though I’m not Chinese (I’m Korean), it impacts my life and my well-being as well.
If negative design impact in society is new to you, I recommend reading Ruined by Design.
So, how do I design consciously about diversity inclusion as a UX/UI designer? Here are some things I noticed in my experience:
When you design for the user experience, include a diverse range of personas
All designs that you would create will target a certain audience or certain users. However, you have to still remember that in the US and Canada, not all users are white (of course)! If all your user personas are white, I recommend adding some diversity. Often, user personas have deeply embedded stereotypes as well. An app that targets students? A website for doctors? Well, there won’t be any Black user personas (I rarely see them). It may be weird, but the first thing you have to do is acknowledge that your personas are tailored to be specific ways. Thus, to oppose unintentional stereotypes, you need to make a conscious decision to add more diversity within your user personas (I realized I wasn’t doing this and it came to me as a surprise when I looked at my own case studies).
Interview diverse range of users
UX/UI is based on the behaviour of human beings and how this behaviour interacts the best with the specific product or application. Perception plays a critical role in this and perception is generally the same unless you have a specific condition. Human behaviour is also believed to be similar across the world, but this is a western ideology. For instance, facial recognition of emotion differs based on your external culture, especially, when one cultural facial expression is not available in another culture because the specific cultural context doesn’t exist.
The difference is that human development may have a milestone, but human behaviour changes over time influenced by the environment.
With this in mind, if the product is designed to aim for Japan, then it needs to be tailored to the Japanese understanding of that specific product. Why else would McDonald’s have a different variety of hamburgers in Japan compare to the US? The preference of the taste of food and what’s assessed as a “good” product differs.
Knowing this, adding a diversity aspect to a UX/UI design is considerably harder than accessibility. Even more so when there isn’t exactly a mandated guideline to cover this area (even I’m not sure where I can get the resources for this. I recommend anyone who does know to write it down in the comments below). What I recommend though is to interview a diverse set of a user when doing a usability testing in that category of target audience.
Let’s say you are targeting a mid-20s, young female in Canada, interested in DIY crafts because the application is for young females interested in learning new DIY skills. Within that category, it is still possible to select a diverse set of people. Don’t assume that each person’s experience would be the same because they fit that single targeted category when their cultural background, environment and other characteristics are different.
Discuss and progress diversity inclusion just as you have done for accessibility
Including accessible and responsive design in UX/UI has become so much easier. For accessibility and responsiveness, there are mandates, resources, and guidelines with years of advocates behind the hard work to be where they are today.
However, diversity inclusion has not advanced in UX/UI. It’s not in the discussion despite the raging topic of racism that’s covered by the media.
There is no guideline, no mandate, no actual discussion that I have come across so far in terms of solutions for diversity inclusion in the field of UX/UI because the general understanding is that it shouldn’t matter for UX/UI.
But, UX/UI has rooted deeply into our personal lives in the forms of product interaction (Amazon, YouTube, Google, Macbook etc) and social media (Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok etc). Integrating UX/UI is no longer a want, but a need for survival in an ever-changing society where people want the cream of the crop. UX/UI influences what’s visible on the surface and what’s not. It is inevitable that we directly face these design choices unconsciously and manifest the unconscious into conscious action in our real life.
Thus, we need to have UX/UI reflect the issues we face in real life; racism, stereotypes and biases.
If we do not, then we are designing blindly. If UX/UI is supposed to target the general population, who are these general population and audiences? What is your standard of the general population that you are targetting, and are they majorly white? Am I part of your definition of general population? Why and why not? These questions needs to be asked and answered.
Best ways to create resources, guidelines and some mandated rules? Discussion. We need to keep discussing, keep talking, and keep thinking about this topic without letting it just fizzle out like a dying revolution.
Be outspoken during a team meeting with developers
As a UX/UI designer, you are designing for user experience and user interface. But, you will also be consulted during the development process with the developers.
This is your chance to advocate for your users and to be their voice, especially if the development team began to stray off from the original design that you intentionally created based on the data with the user’s best interest in mind.
If you are afraid that speaking out would make you a target within the company, why are you still staying there? Money? Circumstances? Fame? I promise you there will be people who value your work ethics, so take the risk. Especially with more awareness toward racism (although many companies may use BLM support as a marketing campaign), if they at least have human decency, they should make it a priority for you to speak up.
With that in mind, if you are aware that they are using AI to implement facial recognition, you need to inform them that they must make sure to find a way to nullify or reduce the AI bias because otherwise, that would ruin the design intention of the application or that product. Hopefully, they are more aware of the AI bias with intention of fixing it.
Be the hypocrite, but bear the accountability
So, what happens you speak out, but you aren’t always perfectly following this 100%? Well, welcome to being human. Sure, I speak some high words here and there, but I’m not going to hold it against myself of following it through every single time like a perfect robot. There are circumstances, chances and times when it’s perfect to implement these methods and times when it’s not.
The difference is that this is what I value and I try to carry it out most of the time with or without the result I want.
It’s all part of growing pain when we realize the world isn’t perfect, human lives aren’t equal, and the system is pretty messed up. I’m just a normal scared person watching the news at night.
But, it’s better to admit your mistake (hopefully not a BIG one), recognize what’s wrong, and move forward trying to do the right thing. I learned about racism and how prevalent it was. How lives based on your skin colour drastically differ and how I’m also living with such privilege. It may be hypocritical of me to touch base on these issues, but it’s better than staying silent over the matter.
Same with people who whitewashed their own culture to blend into the society, but recognize this systematic problem. Even people who are using BLM just as a marketing campaign.
If it just makes this issue be in the spotlight longer and spread the message further with some depth, then, it’s better to have those people as an ally than to criticize or judge them for their action.
However, bear in mind that accountability must come around.
In a world of UX/UI design, it’s filled with people who love to discuss, communicate and create from new ideas. But, it’s still a community where people know each other globally. Knowing that UX/UI is a community means individuals need to be held accountable for the community to thrive. But, even without this, at the end of the day, it’s up to you to be accountable for your action and no one else can change that.
In conclusion
UX/UI could use more discussion about diversity inclusion. Heck, in many aspect of our lives, we could use more diversity inclusion.
Frankly, I’m not too sure if writing this article changes anything. The big and complex system that we designed has turned against us in a form of Climate Change in which everyone is screaming in a void while still drinking from a plastic water bottle (what product did I not purchase last time that didn’t involve in using fossil fuels or plastic? Mmmm).
Likewise, thinking about diversity inclusion is a pain that many would rather not get involved in while working. Despite working toward it, one can feel disillusioned by the prospect. But, it’s also something we can’t ignore anymore.
For me, promoting for diversity inclusion is a way where I can survive in the society and to create a place where I can belong. Maybe I will live long to become a “villain” who may no longer prioritize diversity inclusion if I have another mouth to feed and other social responsibility. Life, as a matter of fact, simply happens. This isn’t something that everyone can do, and I don’t have all the solutions.
But at least I can say, I tried. Now, let’s try, together.
