Feminism for designers
2019, Product communication, OsloMet University, masters in Product and Service Design (semester abroad)
In collaboration with Ingvild Hansson Kalsnes and Julian Hallen Eriksen, I explored the communication challenge of onboarding designers to use feminism in their professional practice. Within a limited timeframe of 5 weeks we developed a communication strategy and product prototype to meet the needs of identified stakeholders. We conducted primary research with key stakeholder groups and existing organizations working on similar problems. Secondary research was used to analyze our findings, and various design thinking frameworks were used for final synthesis.
Role / Researcher, facilitator, designer, strategist
Timeline / November to December, 2019
“How might we encourage all designers to use feminism in their design practice?”
The design process
Brief
This was a project for a product communication course. The goal of the project was to build a research-informed product communication strategy for an existing or new product.
Research
We used both primary and secondary research throughout our process. We conducted interviews with design students, surveyed designers, and interviewed founders, designers, and researchers that are doing work related to feminist design. We used several mapping tools and methods to build insights.
Strategy
From the insights we found in our research we developed goals and requirements to build a framework for our communication strategy. This included our overall mission, what three pillars would support our mission, and activities to accomplish those pillars..
Prototype
Our prototype emerged from a synthesis of our research and strategy. Because branding was found to be a key element to the success of our strategy I applied my visual design skills to create a flexible logo and icon system to support the prototype.
Feminism doesn’t mean one thing so it was important from project outset to define and align to a clear point of view. Most designers are familiar with Inclusive and Universal Design however both of these methods are still broadly intended to support design for the greatest number of people. The opportunity for Feminist Design is to add to these methods as a lens that directly considers how intersectional identities, social determinants and systems of oppression affect users and uphold inequity despite good usability.
A stakeholder analysis was conducted to based on potential interest and potential influence.
A needs assessment was informed by the stakeholder analysis.
We expanded on the needs assessment through in-person interviews and online surveys with designers, design firms, and other organizations. From this research we created communication requirements to inform further activities.
These requirements were used to develop a product communication strategy and visual identity.
From the product communication strategy we developed a product concept that exists across multiple channels and considers low to high thresholds for individual engagement.
