Designing better futures for everyone / Lesley Ann Noel / Episode #162

I'm sure you've heard this before... "You can't design for everyone." That's a fundamental principle in a good design process. In the end, design is all about making choices. And one of these choices is defining who you are designing for. But here's an interesting question: Can you design with a specific user in mind without excluding others?  This sounds a lot like a paradox, right? So why bother trying to solve it? Because if we don't, we are creating inequality and harm.  This isn't exclusive to but especially relevant when working with public services. You can't just always design for the "average" user or the one with the most money. So what can you do? Well, Lesley Ann Noel has made it her mission to help us design better futures for everyone. She has done many experiments in her role as a university professor to overcome this seeming paradox. And her findings are... pretty surprising, to say the least. She shares her story in this week's episode. After this conversation, it really resonated with me that it's okay and even beneficial to bring your whole self into the design process. Yes, including all of your biases! --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to episode 162 03:15 Who is Lesley 04:45 Lightning round 08:00 Designing better futures 09:45 Who are we designing for 12:15 What does better look like 16:45 Background story 22:45 The unknown unknown 27:30 Impact on the craft 30:45 Who is open to this 34:00 Most common question 37:15 Bring your identity 41:00 The mindful designer 45:00 What makes you happy 48:30 Lesson learned 49:45 Closing thoughts --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- * https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesleyannnoel/ * The Activist Academic (book) - https://amzn.to/3tfjUep --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. https://servicedesignshow.com/circle