Inclusive Design Studio

The Inclusive Design studio works with faculty, staff, students, and community partners to identify opportunities to design inclusive digital spaces. Our approach is grounded in an ethic of care, an orientation toward equity, and a commitment to inclusive design and design justice practices. Contact Dr. Sarah Lohnes Watulak to get involved!

About the Studio

The Inclusive Design Studio (IDS) at DLINQ is an initiative launched by the Office of Digital Learning and Inquiry (DLINQ) in January 2019 that explores inclusive design through a critical, inquiry-based approach. It is an open initiative that seeks to be in community with students, faculty, staff, and anyone interested in working together to understand and work toward addressing the needs of people who are marginalized by design in its many forms. Unlike a typical studio located in a physical space, we are a virtual and distributed community. What makes us a studio is our orientation toward a model of informal learning that is driven by inquiry, focused on creation, and conducted in collaboration with peers and mentors.

We see the work of the Inclusive Design studio intersecting with a number of Envisioning Middlebury strategic directions, including digital fluency and critical engagement, full participation in diverse communities, and emergent teaching, learning, and research horizons.

What is Inclusive Design?

Our view of design is broad; it “is the intention (and unintentional impact) behind an outcome.” (Creative Reaction Lab, 2018, p. 11). In other words – design is everywhere! Inclusive spaces work to purposefully and meaningfully bring together “diverse perspectives and creat[e] a better outcome for all. Inclusion is an invitation that not only accepts differences, but celebrates and embeds them” (Creative Reaction Lab, 2018, p. 10). Taken together, “Inclusive design is design that considers the full range of human diversity with respect to ability, language, culture, gender, age, and other forms of human difference” including social class/economic background (Inclusive Design Research Centre, n.d.). While Inclusive Design touches on all aspects of life, the Inclusive Design Studio is particularly interested in inclusive design in digital spaces.

Why Inclusive Design?

Not only is design everywhere, but as Kat Holmes points out in her book Mismatch,

“Design shapes our ability to access, participate in, and contribute to the world.”

Furthermore, when we consider who is invited to the table when designing products, built environments, learning spaces, and more, we share Sasha Costanza-Shock’s concern that “…the people who are most adversely affected by design decisions…tend to have the least influence on those decisions and how they are made.” Inclusive design isn’t just a feel-good buzzword; we see inclusive design as a social justice issue. We aspire to engage with the ways in which design processes and solutions intersect with social, historical, and economic factors that reproduce unjust systems. The studio also explores the potential for design to disrupt these systems and create digital spaces that embrace inclusion. We intend to work toward mitigating the harms of exclusive design. As a starting point (but not an ending point), this means co-designing with people who are typically marginalized by design.

Studio Courses

INTD 1227 Inclusive Design and Design Justice in Practice

Taught by Dr. Amy Collier & Dr. Sarah Lohnes Watulak, the course is offered for 1 credit P/F during Winter Term at Middlebury College.

Course Description

Inclusive design is intentional, participatory, and iterative design work that supports a range of human diversity, with the goal of counteracting exclusionary, racist, or exploitative designs that pervade our society. In this class, we will learn about inclusive design and design justice through a project-based approach in which students put inclusive design principles into practice in their own project. These inclusive design principles and processes can be broadly applied across industries and design contexts, including but not limited to architectural, technology/UX design, and curriculum design. Our work will be informed by texts including Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need; Mismatch; Beyond Sticky Notes: Co-Design for Real; Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code; and What Can a Body Do? How We Meet the Built World.

Course Website, Winter 2022

visit the Winter 2022 course website

Course Website, Winter 2021

visit the Winter 2021 course website

Recent Studio Projects

Noticing Exclusion - Atrium Display in Davis Family Library

During the week of April 25, 2022, visitors to the Davis Family Library at Middlebury College were able to view and interact with a display titled Noticing Exclusions. Designed and implemented by DLINQ Inclusive Design Studio Interns Kayla Moore (Middlebury ’22) and Ife Onuorah (Middlebury ’23), the goal of the display was to raise awareness of the importance of being able to notice exclusions as a way of becoming aware of the impacts of designs on oneself and others. (For more on noticing exclusion as part of an inclusive design approach, check out this digital detox article by Amy Collier and Sarah Lohnes Watulak.)

The display featured an Exclusionary Design Wall of Shame, where visitors could write down their experiences of being excluded by design, and suggestions for addressing design exclusions, drawing on inclusive design and design justice practice. It also featured 4 projects from students in the winter term 2022 INTD 1227 Inclusive Design & Design Justice in Practice course. Thanks to Arjun Clare, Claire Contreras, Hannah Sullivan, Ife Onuorah, and Josie Lagerstrom for allowing us to share your work!

Inclusive Design Un-Guide

The Inclusive Design Un-Guide website hosts regular provocations related to inclusive design, alongside an invitation to react, make, and share a reflection on the provocation. The goal of the provocation is to stir up conversation and critical thinking and reflection around topics related to inclusive design. We aim to pair these provocations with opportunities for synchronous and asynchronous gathering and conversation. The project launched on 11/4/2020; please visit the Inclusive Design Un-Guide website, and check out the #InclusiveDesignUnGuide hashtag on Twitter, to participate and add your thoughts to the conversation. Read more about the process of creating the Inclusive Design Un-Guide on the From Guide to Un-Guide: About the Inclusive Design Un-Guide page.

IncluTech x Midd

The Inclusive Design Studio is excited to partner with Midd alum Nadani Dixon (Director of IncluTech at The Coding School) and her IncluTech Team at The Coding School to develop an inclusive design track for The Coding School’s tech ethics & bias training. DLINQ Interns Alivia Kliesen and Kaylen Rivers are working with the IncluTech team to create the curriculum for the inclusive design track, which will be delivered to middle and high school students participating in The Coding School’s programs. According to Nadani, the goal of the tech ethics & bias training is “for students to understand that bias exists in our society and it gets built into the technology we make and can disproportionately affect individuals of varying identities.” We’re excited to be able to support this work!

Made for Whom? Event

“An inclusive environment is far more than the shape of its doors, chairs, and rampways. It also considers the psychological and emotional impact on people.” (Kat Holmes)

This exhibition, which took place at Middlebury College and the Middlebury Institute for International Studies in April 2019, invited students, faculty, and staff to critically engage with the design history of everyday objects. Attendees were invited to interact with a series of everyday objects, learn about the object’s design history, and reflect on critical questions related to whom the design includes – and whom it excludes. The goal of the event was to raise awareness about inclusive design, and how it affects our everyday lives.

Related Resources

Read a recap of the event, written by Sarah Lohnes Watulak and Noraya Razzaque (MIIS ’20, former DLINQ Intern)
Download a PDF of the event poster

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