Abstract
How can one engage in a design process, through constructive relations and co-creation within diversity, if one does not understand the positionality of their ‘Self’? In 2016, the Stanford d.school added two design modes to its Design Thinking model seeking equity-centered design: Notice and Reflect. These new steps involve bringing more transparency around the Self of the designer. Before transformative thinking and practice can begin, designers need to engage in a process of untangling the makeup of their identities (a term intentionally pluralized to represent the multiple intersecting identities and cultures we all possess) and the systems of oppression they have been part of, or subjected to. Through this process, we can develop a greater potential for engaging diverse perspectives and inciting a new universal paradigm of inclusion and equity-oriented design. Our arguments are supported by data collected in 2021 & 2022, from undergraduate interior design students and instructors participating in global cyber design charrettes focused on cultural bias and identity. Participants were located in varied universities throughout North America, and the Middle East. Data was collected through reflection logs, video footage, individual and group interviews with students and teachers, and post project surveys. Intended as a qualitative study on intercultural dialogue through design, one of the unexpected research findings was the struggle that design students faced, across all locations, in untangling their cultural identities. This ‘untangling’ should not be taken for granted and requires self-reflection/reflexivity, which can be uncomfortable and uncertain. This is the focus of our presentation.
Presenters
Heidi SchlegelAssociate Director of the School of Design | Associate Professor Interior Design , College of Art and Design | School of Design , Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, United States Rim Fathallah
Student, PhD, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2024 Special Focus—Cultures of Transformative Design
KEYWORDS
Transnational Charette, Intercultural Visual Dialogue, Identities, Self-positioning, Bias; Equity-centred design
