DEI - 5 Realisations
This blog is part of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion series. #DEI #DiversityEquityandInclusion
At Noble Studio, we regularly discuss and consider challenges of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in our work. It’s not always easy to get things the right first time, but it doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying. So we’ve noted 5 Realisations in our EDI journey so far:
1 - Challenge the Stereotypes
When creating 2D depictions, as we often do as designers - we can lose the nuance of certain cues that might exist in real life, so often the default is to represent people in obvious and sometimes stereotypical ways. We deliberately challenge ourselves not to do this. For example, we often create gender-neutral characters, with non-gendered clothing and more neutral body shapes and hairstyles.
2 - Less Visible Shouldn’t Mean Not Possible
We’ve had many conversations about how to include people with non-visible disabilities or neurodivergence, and this continues to be one of our biggest challenges. Considering the setting in which we place the characters can really help set the context or show the different ways in which people interact with their surroundings and other people.
3 - Advocate for Representation
We believe that highlighting biases and advocating for inclusivity is crucial. We have a statement in our client proposals that states this. In the past, we have broached difficult client conversations when they have pushed back to avoid certain representations of people. We always encourage people to see things like disability as a part of what makes up our varied population, and not something that needs to stand out, feel tokenistic or be “othered”.
4 - Accessibility Starts with Us
We have been learning about digital accessibility as a studio. This learning has raised our awareness of our own practices so we now know what we can and should be doing such as adding alt text, and running accessibility tests on websites we produce, including our own website and social media. Our aim in the future is to actively encourage clients to include these practices in their design assets and share a free resource to help give guidance.
5 - Create Opportunities to Represent
Sometimes the opportunity to directly apply our learning or depict someone from a diverse background, marginalised group or intersectional identity doesn’t immediately arise. So we seek to create these representations in our own personal project and internal comms.
This lead us to start to create a set of illustrations of people focusing on diversity and inclusion. The process allowed us the space to practise and put our learnings into action, with the process being as important as the final outcome. But of course, there’s always more learning and work to do. This is just the start of an ongoing project we’re working on as a team, and will be sharing the outcomes in our upcoming EDI blog posts.
Is there something or someone you would like to see represented? Let us know.
We’ll be uploading the visuals from this blog to Giphy, so search Noble Studio to use them across social media - and please tag us! https://giphy.com/NobleStudio