Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need (Information Policy)

designers tend to unconsciously default to imagined users whose experiences are similar to their own.35 This means that users are

If You’re Not at the Table, You’re on the Menu

extensive impact on the design of everything from the built environment to human-computer interfaces, from international architectural standards to the technical requirements of broadcast media and the internet,

Retooling for design justice means developing new approaches to key design methods like A/B tests, benchmarks, user testing, and validation.

Many design approaches that are supposedly more inclusive, participatory, and democratic actually serve an extractive function.

lead user innovation, information asymmetry between manufacturers and users, and variance in user product needs.

For these activists, it was important to pressure multiple actors, including lawmakers, government agencies, universities, and private sector firms, to change research and design practices, adopt new approaches, and implement new standards of care.

and doesn’t require an impact analysis of the distribution

One concrete accountability mechanism that practitioners suggest is community advisory boards or governing councils that can guide and own design processes.