CI Fall 20 Discussion Questions

Exclusive Design – Vasilis van Gemert


This Reading sent me back to one of the talks I attended in the CD Lecture series, by Ramon Tejada who spoke a bit about his design practices also being based around inclusivity. His website also has something called the Accessibility Widget” which I personally think is a great addition to all websites for inclusive access. I think it’s important for all of us to have an input from someone who’s not able to access web design in the conventional ways to make our work more accessible, but at the same time, how do we incorporate the multiple different approaches to make our work accessible for all. 

Jillian: This reading brought to mind Ian Macrae; a man with a visual impairment whose story appeared in The Guardian in 2015. Ian uses VoiceOver software to navigate through the web, which consists of the voice assistant basically “reading” interfaces and allowing him to interact with the web sight unseen. To understand this, I figured I should try it out myself, deciding once to turn on the VoiceOver software on my Mac and then relying solely on that to navigate my chosen site; Amazon. I found the whole ordeal of going through every heading, then having to go through each element within that heading to get to the list of products I’m looking for, a lot more difficult and tedious than I had initially anticipated. I also realized how much I - a person with no vision impairment or physical disability - take for granted. One of the main cognitive distortions of human nature is drawing conclusions about a diverse world by relying on personal experience. To make people, like Ian, comfortable, we should abandon that narrow, limited point of view and try to see the world from a wider perspective. Vasilis van Gemert’s main concern could not be more warranted - how can we lift accessible web design beyond the functional?

Annie: This reading on Exclusive Design by Vasilis van Gemert made me think about web design for people with disabilities in a completely different way than I have before. I have often thought of the elements of design that would allow someone with a disability as an “add on” or some features that were extra to the website’s design. However, especially after this reading, I’ve realized that this way of thinking is actually a form of ableism and as a designer, this lack of consideration for people with disabilities is uninclusive and actually nonconstructive to the websites overall ability to be useful, profitable, and informative to the most amount of people. I think that my unawareness to the importance of making websites useable for people with disabilities comes from a place of my own ignorance and presumption, and it wasn’t until reading this article that I was challenged to reassess the importance of designing for everyone regardless of their ability. I like the way this article places the designer as culpable for ensuring that there is access to the website for all people and challenges the ideas of inclusive design in order to push boundaries in design for people with disabilities beyond the minimum level of use. 

Rachel Park: Vasilis van Gemert’s Exclusive Design reading reminded me of Apple’s article on “Apple, creatives, and disability rights activists reflect on 30 years of the Americans with Disabilities Act”. These two readings made reflect on what types of technology everyone has access to, and it made me question whether they are inclusive or not. Matthew Whitaker, a jazz musician, taught himself how to use VoiceOver to help him in composing his music. Apple’s article made a strong point that “technology does not solve every obstacle one can encounter as a blind person, but having access to the equipment and applications I need in daily living, music creation, and being a student is the right of every American with a disability”. Vasilis van Gemert brings the point that we should be creating inclusive websites simply because we can, and it makes me question why many designers have yet to do so? It brings to my attention that making an inclusive design is not often taught in classrooms. Everyone needs a way of communicating with one another, and there is a lack of consideration for this in website design. We can’t assume that everyone has access to the websites that we design, and it challenges us as designers to design websites that make it accessible, inclusive, and functional.

Marika: “Exclusive Design” by Vasilis van Gemert brought up an interesting aspect of design that I’ve always struggled with. It’s not to the extent of visually impaired viewers like in the case of Beyoncé’s website, but I’m partially color blind and growing up I quickly noticed big design issues in either teachers presentations for class or on websites and images I needed for school. As Gemert explained the Netherlands put laws in place to make design more inclusive for disabled viewers, I wondered if the United States have taken similar action? Not to just avoid lawsuits, which I learned is a big part of American culture, but to also make design more accessible and “because we can.”

Dhriti: Vasilis van Germert makes some interesting points about designing interfaces for people who are excluded. First they talk about studying individuals with different disabilities to become a specialist inclusive designer. I believe that this is extremely important to be able to design something for them that fulfils their needs and wants. The outcome could be something completely unexpected and rewarding. In high school, I worked with children who were mentally and physically disabled. Working with them required a lot of patience as I had to be sensitive to the way and pace in which they worked. Moreover, we as designers must think about creating work for the groups of people who are constantly discriminated in society. As Germert mentioned in the website, this could enable them to lead a more independent life. Being at a position where I have don’t have any disabilities, I consider it important to study and contribute work that is more inclusive. Doing so is also crucial since design is all about form and communication. Reading this piece also reminded me of the exhibition “The Senses: Design beyond Vision” in Cooper Hewitt which has experimental works that explore all five senses (“Audio devices translate sound into vibrations that can be felt on the skin”). This allows the designers to reach out to a larger audience. 

Natalie: It’s sad for me to say that I’ve never considered making a design for people with disabilities until I read this article. By reading the article “Exclusive Design” by Vasilis van Gemert completely opened my eyes towards it. I think people who make design should be more aware in the situation that certain people have disabilities and their designs shouldn’t be made just for “normal” people. I loved how Gemert brought this awareness and did studies of it so designers can have an idea when creating design websites for people with disabilities. 

Oluschi> In the reading “ExclusiveDesign” by Vasilis van Gemert, it explores the ideas of inclusivity in the digital realm. In a fast pace realm of technology, it can be easy to overlook those who often fade to the background of our society. In the reading, Gemert explores these ideas of providing accessibility, by incorporating multiple different approaches to make our digital design work accessible by flipping the ability bias. As a designer we need to start creating tailor made experiences, this would start by understanding inclusive design principles. As mentioned by Gemert, providing individuals with experiences made to accommodate those with disabilities people, it gives them access to a more independent lifestyle. Ways in the reading we can provide accessibility in our design by studying the situation; by understanding the context of a multitude of disabilities, then ignore convention; by finding how current web design have or haven't work with those with disabilities, next prioritize identity; getting insight and research, and finally add nonsense; think outside what you know, take what you learn, and don't leave any idea unturned. Through web design, as brought out in this week's reading, we can begin to fulfill the broken dialogue in our societies when it comes to the inclusivity of those with disabilities.

Rachel: While reading this article, “Exclusive Design” by Vasilis van Gemert I was thinking about an article I read about diversity and inclusion in design while researching for a different class. In one part of the article, it highlighted the importance of designing with accessibility standards because it creates more inclusive experiences. It was explaining how most things that are designed are to be perceived and that designers mostly design for people who have little or no difficulty when using web or mobile applications. I’m glad Germert is writing this topic because although its easy and comfortable to design for the abled, it’s important to design with accessibility in mind.

Agathe: While reading Exclusive Design, it brought me thinking about a similar reading about inclusive design. I read about how both the architect design and the marketing design were quite ableist, leaving out people who don’t have the ability to walk. Similar to Exclusive Design, it talked about how the vessel design initially didn't accommodate people who were disabled. This brings the idea of how design could unintentionally be ableist, as many forget to think about the minority of people who are impaired. I love how Vasilis van Gemert said “For me the most important reason we should be designing inclusive websites is because we can,” because it’s true- we have had the ability to accommodate and adapt our website to everyone, however it’s unfortunate how normalized it is to simply forget about it. This article reminds us that with design, we need to think of how wide our audience is and who it could be, while accommodating for everyone in every situation.

Annabelle: Vasilis van Gemert’s opening statement, “we have been designing website mostly for people who design websites,” really stuck with me as a I read through this article. Van Gemert’s article opened my perspective in realizing that there are still many flaws within design, in that it doesn’t cater to every need, circumstance or ability. In this class, we have talked briefly about making our designs more flexible and suitable for people who may have different abilities, but for me, it has not been my primary focus— which furthers van Gemert’s point that this needs to change! His idea that in order to design things that are truly aware and conscious of different abilities and the overall user experience, the best way to find those accommodations is to work directly with those who are experiencing it. Most of the design that we interact with today, is only accessible to a small percentage of the larger majority. When attention is brought towards certain design flaws, yes, it can integrated into the already existing space— but design should be something that doesn’t have to have a single option for every circumstance. Rather, a new definition of what is considered the standard or universal approach; one that can be used and comprehended by everyone without having to have a separate alternative. 

Raquel: I always felt that websites were designed for people and not other designers until I started studying at Parsons School of Design. Many designers often seek approval from other designers, consequently creating less meaningful work. Ramon Tejada mentions this in one of his lectures we attended earlier this fall. I've always thought of how design often excludes those with disabilities; even within architecture, one does not often consider someone in a wheelchair. This article also helped me understand that even a "minimal" disability can affect how one uses a website. I feel that the best way to fully grasp and understand how the brain works for some people with disabilities is to work with people who continuously study this subject and to perhaps analyze how people with disabilities would design a website. This was an essential reading as I had never considered making digital designs for those with disabilities. I never even thought they struggled. It is an essential element to consider when designing as it is really shocking that even today, people feel excluded in the digital world. 

Val: “For the most important reason we should be designing inclusive websites is because we can. And the effects are big.” 
I mean, the technology and everything that developed and progressed so much, ultimately we are here to solve the problems and better the society. I was curious about how VoiceOver works and had a try on it, it was an incredibly weird experience that, regardless of how the web content was programmed, it would be by all the means too difficult for people with impairments to receive the information equally. Though some webs are easier than the others to understand. I wonder how to frame the limited information into a relatively integrated structure by just imagining, I wonder what if the person was visually impaired and with hearing disorder, screen readers might not work. Design inclusively should be considered cardinal for all the participants.

Serena: It is very inspiring to read this thesis about inclusive design in web design. Since I start to learn design, I have often heard the importance of making things accessible to everyone. However, the case studies of accessibility design are mostly from architecture, industrial design. I start to wonder how the concept of "Universal Design" applies to communication design. This article answers my doubts. In the article, Gemert argues, "the current conventions are designed by, and thus for, designers." Although designers might consider including accessible features, it is difficult to understand the different contexts of people with disabilities well enough and biased in evaluating the disabled's needs. Therefore, I agree with the author that one solution to improve should be let people with disabilities play an active role in the design process.

Lindsay Kim:
The reading talks about the steps or ideas we should think about when designing a website. By reading this article, I was able to question myself and remind myself that there are different people around the world and it has to be accessible for everybody. Like the example in the reading "What if we design websites exclusively for people with disabilities?" If I were to design a website, I think I might have forgotten about these differences every individual have but by this reading, I was able to question myself from now on how to make it as accessible for everybody in the world. 

In Defense of the Poor Image – Hito Steyerl


Reading this line: “The poor image thus constructs anonymous global networks just as it creates a shared history”, from the section titled “Comrade, what is your visual bond today?”, made me think about a documentary I recently watched called Coded Bias, which is about the fallout of MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini's startling discovery of racial bias in facial recognition algorithms. In it, there is this discussion about how ‘poor’ or ‘low-quality’ photos of people, particularly those living in or around disadvantaged communities, influence and hinder the accuracy of data that is created by an AI, leading to issues such as misidentifications, false/unwarranted arrests, harassment, etc. In this sense, Hito Steyerl’s ‘poor image’ goes beyond just being a component in film and media, having the potential to severely impact a person’s livelihood. 

I found it interesting to read about how a poor image creates alliances as it travels which could possibly lead to mistranslation. This reminded me of how we all interpret an image differently, and it could have a positive or negative effect on the person. When Hito Steyerl stated that “the poor image thus constructs anonymous global networks just as it creates a shared history,” I didn’t realize until then that an image that travels has created links to one another whether we realize it or not. 

Marika: “In the class society of images, cinema takes on the role of a flagship store. In flagship stores high-end products are marketed in an upscale environment. More affordable derivatives of the same images circulate as DVDs, on broadcast television or online, as poor images.” This quote interested me because even before the pandemic started and movie theaters were closed, I felt like there was a spike in watchings shows and movies at home and less people were going to the cinema. With streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and recently Disney+, the influx of the “poor images” that can be watched at home seem to have beaten movie theaters.

Natalie: While reading the article it has completely changed my thought in poor images. Viewing poor images bothers me and if the quality in a film has poor qualities it makes me what to stop watching the film completely. In recently years as technology has advanced, as a society it has become very popular and demanding to have good quality in everything.  I was really impresses that filmmaker Juan Espinosa made a film entirely out of poor images. He said,“perfect cinema—technically and artistically masterful—is almost always reactionary cinema.” 
 
 Agathe: “The poor image embodies the afterlife of many former masterpieces of cinema and video art. It has been expelled from the sheltered paradise that cinema seems to have once been.” I like how the author goes into depth about how we are slowly moving forward from the idea of being perfectionists when it comes to our artwork. My favorite part to read was the Imperfect Cinema excerpt, about how new cinema changes from the old and original. It’s clear that it’s always a different feeling when you experience a movie or see a poster in real life in comparison seeing it through a screen, which I took as a poor image. I had no idea poor images had more behind them, this article made me change my perspective completely.
 
 Rachel: “It builds alliances as it travels, provokes translation or mistranslation, and creates new publics and debates. By losing its visual substance it recovers some of its political punch and creates a new aura around it.” It's interesting to think about the history of poor images. The number of times I’ve seen a “poor image” spark controversy or conspiracy, I haven't questioned where it originally came from or in what way it has been “uploaded, downloaded, shared, reformatted, and reedited” through time. 
 
 Annabelle: Reading about poor images opened my perspective and interpretation of them. More specifically, how technology has become the gateway of their rapid spread and accessibility. Although this comes with lower quality, hence the name “poor image”, it was interesting how there are many forms of it within photos as well as film; how there are different kinds of archives of poor images that inherently impose different values upon them. For instance, the rare images and videos that are only shown at museums and certain exhibitions before returning to the archive, versus numerous videos and other replications that are on YouTube. I also thought it was particularly interesting how the general existence of a poor image reveals more about its conditions before it was deemed a poor image, and how that led to its online circulation as such. That although it wasn’t appreciated enough to remain of higher quality and value, it is still able to exist in some form, sometimes being viewed more frequently before its reputation as a poor image.