SpringOne 2021 Session Title: Proactively Designing for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Speakers: Megan Peaslee, Lead UX Researcher at University of Washington - Masters Student; Meghna Nayak, Product Designer at N/A; Rachel Feltes, UX Designer at University of Washington; Sara Koeck, UX Researcher at University of Washington

1. Proactively
Designing for
DEI
A toolkit to spark discussion and
provide guidance for product teams.

2. Our Team
Meghna Nayak
UX Designer
Sara Koeck
UX Researcher
Rachel Feltes
UX Designer
Megan Peaslee
UX Researcher

3. Defining the Space
Diversity
Represents the composition of
people in a group of different
races, genders, religions,
sexual orientations, etc.
Equity
Differs from equality:
marginalized groups are treated
in a proportional way to
account for societal obstacles.
Inclusion
People from diverse groups feel
welcome and can participate in
a space without backlash. This
is the end goal.
Discrimination
When a person or group is
treated differently based on
their race, gender, sexual
orientation, etc.
Harassment
Unwanted attention or
action toward a person or
group.

4. This is a toolkit to help plan and assess your product’s user
interactions through a DEI lens. It can be used to evaluate
platforms where different users are interacting with one another.
The toolkit will help you understand how your users are
interacting on the platform, and how those interactions can
facilitate diversity and inclusion or encourage bias,
discrimination, and harassment.
Technology is not neutral.

5. Why does it matter?
It is in both moral and business
interests to create an equitable and
inclusive platform.
Platforms can expose their users to discrimination, even if the platform
considers itself to be ‘unbiased’. User interactions can be designed in ways
that mitigate or aggravate biases. Numerous platforms have come under fire
for design choices that enable prejudicial modes of thought and action.

6. Our capstone sponsor asked us to help them figure out
a way to redesign their platform to encourage more
equitable user interactions.
To get started, we researched cautionary tales, case
studies of reactive policies, and high level frameworks
about designing for DEI, but there was not clear,
actionable guidelines for this problem space.
So we created our own.
The Journey to the Toolkit

7. The Journey to the Toolkit
Competitive
analysis
Reviewed 9
research papers on
DEI best practices
in technology
Compared seven
matching oriented
tech platforms on
DEI policy and
implementation
Literature
review
Heuristic
evaluation
Analyzed both the
client and provider
side with our own
DEI specific
heuristics

8. 20 prompt cards organized into 7 themes:
● Sharing information
● Developing Trust
● Humanizing Users
● Appropriate Interactions
● Supporting Users
● Measuring Impact
● Creating Policies
Each card has an overarching question and context.
Content is grounded in concrete examples and framed as
questions to consider in the context of a specific product,
suggesting some best practices to consider and discuss.
What’s in the toolkit?

9. Using the toolkit
This toolkit can be used to generate ideas for new platforms, iterate on
current designs, and evaluate existing products. Prompts can be considered in
a group workshop setting or individually.
We recommend following these four steps:
Define context &
goals
Conduct DEI
Analysis
Identify what is
missing
Make an action
plan

10. Examples
01
02
03
04
PROFILE PICTURE
RATINGS
USER VERIFICATION
FREE TEXT ENTRY
When is it appropriate to share user profile pictures?
How could user ratings be structured to impact DEI?
How can indications of trust combat bias?
Can you let users share their voice and prevent
judgements based on writing style?

11. 01 | PROFILE PICTURE
What personal user information is shared on
your platform and does it need to be shared?
When do people learn information that could
be used to fuel stereotypes or discrimination?

12. 01 | PROFILE PICTURE

13. 02 | RATINGS
Is user feedback structured to encourage
accuracy and reduce bias?
Who can leave user reviews?

14. 02 | RATINGS

15. 03 | USER VERIFICATION
How does the platform indicate user
expertise or legitimacy?

16. 03 | USER VERIFICATION

17. 03 | USER VERIFICATION

18. 04 | FREE TEXT ENTRY
Are you encouraging unbiased interactions
through structure or cues?
How does your platform handle free text
entry?

19. 04 | FREE TEXT ENTRY

20. This is a starting point.
Center Users
Keep the marginalized
users in mind
Take Action
Make changes, not
promises
Measure Impact
Continue measuring impact
with DEI metrics
Continue Research
Learn more about the
space and problem
Creating more
equitable and
diverse products

21. Learn More & Find
Resources here:
www.interactiondei.com

22. CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo,
including icons by Flaticon, and infographics & images by Freepik.
Thank you!