Steven Wakabayashi (QTBIPOC Design)

*All Spring Design@Large talks will be hosted online. This aligns with UC San Diego policy that all events be hosted virtual during the Spring 2021 quarter.

Designing for Equity: Creating More Inclusive and Accessible Products

As more aspects of our lives become reliant on technology, creating equitable products will be paramount to ensure that our diverse communities will be positively impacted by these new digital experiences. From physical disabilities to gender dysphoria, our digital products have the opportunity to enable and empower marginalized individuals when designed intentionally.

In this session, we will:

• Demystify some of the terminologies and hurdles around equitable design.
• Learn techniques and methodologies to identify unserved communities, deepen empathy, and integrate equitable design practices into our everyday.
• Explore inspirational case studies and break down how they are creating equity through their content and language.

About the Speaker

Steven Wakabayashi is the founder of QTBIPOC Design – an organization that provides free and accessible design education, mentorship, and networking opportunities to LGBTQ+ designers of color. After leading creative teams on some of the biggest brands including Apple, Salesforce, Sephora, Mercedes-Benz, and Samsung, he is now dedicating himself to bring more diversity and equity to creative teams around the world.

About Design@Large

Design@Large is a speaker series that is hosted by The Design Lab at UCSD, where each quarter we examine a topic in society and the relevance and implications through the lens of human centered design.

Co-hosted by Elizabeth Eikey and Edward Wang and developed in partnership with Carrie Sawyer of Diversity by Design, Design@Large this quarter is a continuation of Winter 2021. The focus is racism in the design of everyday things across a range of topics, such as artificial intelligence, healthcare, advertising, and more. Talks will help shed light on the historical context of racism, the consequences of “designing” without understanding racism’s deep roots, and provide examples of anti-racist and equitable approaches in practice. Too often we want to jump straight to action, but without building our capacity to understand racism (and other “isms”) and critically evaluating its impact, we perpetuate racism and inequity – even with the best intentions. Through an exciting lineup of speakers, this series begins to make connections between history and designing and aims to promote awareness around the lifelong practice of anti-racist work across a variety of interconnected domains.