I Am My Own Worst Enemy: The Design Process.

Exploring the 5 "Ds" of design, my first attempt at a "novel" design concept, many hours of crying, and some inspiration from Kat Holmes.

Photo by Polina Kondrashova on Unsplash

After exploring some key ideas such as critical thinking, inclusive design, and reflecting on my own personal experiences, it was time for our class to put these ideas into actions using the 5 "Ds" of design:

1. Discover

2. Define

3. Design

4. Develop

5. Deliver

A diagram demonstrating the iterative design process using the 5 D's by Arezoo Talebzadeh

We were given our first assignment: reflect on our own lived experiences and "identify three cases where neglecting users and communities through the design and decision-making process resulted in a product, space, system, service, policy or situation of exclusion." We were required to document an observation (What is happening and why?), the community and context (Who is affected and where?), and (pause for dramatic effect) GIVE A PROPOSED DESIGN IMPROVEMENT! We've finally made it to the big leagues, kiddos. It's time to design.

I opened up my notebook, grabbed the juiciest, smoothest pen I owned, and waited for inspiration to strike. PS. the inspiration never struck.

I folded my arms on my desk, put my head down, and listened to the ticking of my wristwatch. I have dreamed of this moment. The moment I finally get to put my frustrating, heart-wrenching battles with exclusive designs to good use. And I had NOTHING. Zip, Zilch, Nada! 20+ years of experience and innovative solutions were sucked out of my head like flushing an airplane toilet (which by the way, is a great example of an exclusive design). I felt a lump of anxiety slowly crawling up the walls of my stomach, into my throat, and finally escaping in a flood of tears. As I was sobbing, I said to myself "What am I doing here? I moved half way across the world for NOTHING. I'm not a designer. I don't know how to sketch or create new ideas. I should quit while I'm ahead, get a refund on my tuition money, and use it to move back to Finland." This pity party went on for... approximately three hours and 12 minutes. After a few encouraging phone calls with friends, I swallowed down this lump of anxiety, picked up my pen, and tried again. And again. And again. And eventually I narrowed it down to three observations:

1. Most accessible toilets aren't accessible.*

2. End-of-Life (EOL) care service design fails to include the diverse range of patients and family.

3. Festivals (and other large arts/cultural events) are inherently exclusive to marginalized groups by designing the events to adhere to the "masses".

I chose these three observations because each one represents different areas of inclusive design that I am particularly interested in: accessibility design, health care service design, and inclusive arts/cultural event planning.

*My accessible toilet design was so pitiful that I am too embarrassed to share it on such a public platform, but I will share the other two design improvements that I proposed.

EOL Care Design Improvements

This diagram demonstrates my ideal EOL care service design and the flow of information between the primary care physician, palliative care physician, sensitive information (SI) consultant (someone offering alternative and inclusive methods of distributing information to patients and their family members), and the in-home EOL care team. I proposed that the patient and family should be involved in the transition between every step. And the implementation of two main phases: Phase 1: reiterative loop between in-home care team and palliative care physician and Phase 2: reiterative loop between SI consultant, in-home care team, and patient and family during and post palliative care. I have proposed this design improvement due to my personal experience with EOL care as a family member/caregiver, and the lack of transparency with the patient and family during this sensitive and emotional process. There were many critical moments in which we were totally abandoned by the system, or critical information was not communicated to the family, or to the appropriate health care professional. Following a design like I have proposed would hopefully eliminate/reduce the current failings in EOL care.

FestConnect: Better Festivals For All

The final design proposal I suggested is actually from a social entrepreneurship concept that I have been developing since the fall of 2021: FestConnect. Below is a pitch video explaining why and how I came up with the FestConnect idea, and how it could be used to make festivals more inclusive and accessible.

After completing this assignment, I felt like I was one baby step closer to understanding the inclusive design process, and one big step forward in overcoming my paralyzing imposter syndrome. Design isn't a perfect cycle, and it's never complete. I must constantly iterate and reflect upon the impact and usage of the design because we are part of an imperfect and ever-changing world. But like Kat Holmes said, "At the end of the day, inclusive design is good design. But it takes practice."