Personal
Why?
The Dutch design field isn’t an accurate representation of our society*, but it should be. To make sure everyone has a chance to design and access the world around us. Also, there are benefits to making sure your company and products are inclusive:
- Diversity makes recruitment easier, because it’s valued by people who are looking for a job. – Kim Abreu at Glassdoor
- It also makes recruitment easier because you’re looking at a larger group of candidates. – Maurice Cherry
- A diverse team improves creativity and diligence. – Katherine W. Phillips at Scientific American
- It’s also linked to higher financial returns. – McKinsey
- More inclusive design solutions work for a broader range of people (which might also mean more users and higher profits). – Maurice Cherry
- Solutions for the specific needs of a small group of people might be improvements for many; think of curb cuts and closed captions. – Microsoft Design’s Inclusive Design, Disability Science Review
* Providing statistics in the Dutch context would be great. Sadly, I don’t have them. Let me know if you can help.
What can we do?
I want to help Dutch designers find out what they can do. So, this is a collection of learnings from marginalized communities both in and outside of The Netherlands and the field of design. You can use it as inspiration, a checklist, a reading guide, or however you want. And hopefully, more inclusive designers lead to more diverse and inclusive design agencies/departments, which lead to more just and inclusive design processes & products—and maybe even a more just society.
Next steps
- Collecting more insights, especially about products, process and education
- Getting more people (with actual expertise) to contribute
- Improving the workings/looks/setup of this website
- Collecting statistics on the make-up of the Dutch design community
- Possibly featuring the stories of people who are underrepresented
- Adding a Dutch translation
Updates
You could star the repo on GitHub, but if you prefer human-readable updates, I’ll try to send you an email, once in a while.