Inclusive Conversations

What does it mean to deconstruct your identity? How can postcolonial communities reinforce positive visual culture? Joe and Zoya deep dive in this conversation about journeying into self, navigating double consciousness and discovering the truest essence of who we are.

Nikkie To and Grace Mendez are recent graduates of the Inclusive Design masters program at OCAD University. They collaborated to research and design a more accessible space for children at Grandview Kids in Ontario, Canada. We talk to them about their path to inclusive design, understanding disabilities, the built environment and their research discoveries.

Connect with Grace on LinkedIn

Connect with Nikkie on LinkedIn

Jen Serdetchnaia is a product designer in financial services and fellow graduate of the Inclusive Design graduate program. She gives her perspective and deep thinking on how to design more inclusive systems within tech, considering anti-racism and allyship, and what it means for an equitable future when algorithms dominate so much of our daily lives.

Connect with Jen on Twitter or LinkedIn

Nancy Snow is the Program Director of Graphic Design at OCAD University. With decades of experience in practice and now pedagogy she talks to us about pursuing deep learning, decolonizing design education, existing systems of power and staying curious as a key to inclusion. Connect with Nancy on LinkedIn

Jess Mitchell is a Senior Manager, Research & Design at the Inclusive Design Research Centre, a writer and a critical thinker with a fondness for things in 3’s. We took the opportunity to call Jess up and dive into some hot topics with her around inclusion and diversity, working from home, representation and finding courage in the world we live in today. Connect with Jess on Twitter or Medium @jesshmitchell

Jutta Treviranus is a world expert in Inclusive Design, an educator and social activist who has led many international research projects that support inclusion. She is also a full professor at OCAD University, where she started the Inclusive Design graduate program and the founder and director of the Inclusive Design Research Centre. We catch up with her post graduation to find out her thoughts on diversity and inclusion in 2020, making the internet accessible for everyone and building inclusive business models.

Connect with Jutta on Twitter @juttatrevira

Check out the IDRC at idrc.ocadu.ca

Financial Inclusion – is it even possible? We live in a world completely dependent on money and yet so many people just don’t seem to have enough. Joe York has worked in the finance industry for a decade and is researching ways to include more people from the margins. So far, he’s found that emotional wellness and financial wellness are deeply connected and of course we wanted to find out more.

How can we create work that includes people who are not typically seen in certain spaces? That’s the question on our minds as we dive into a bilingual conversation with Dalal Elsheikh and Dorian Ulises López Macías. Two creatives at different stages in their careers, share their journey and challenges to consciously creating room for others to see themselves.

Dalal Elsheikh is an User Experience and Transportation designer focusing on Space Habitation systems. Currently, she is a Masters of Science candidate at Art Center College of Design in Southern California where she is investigating the future of manned missions to Mars. In her 6 years of design academia, she has emphasized the importance of inclusivity and representation of diverse identities and ideas.

​Connect with Dalal: Instagram

Dorian Ulises López Macías is a documentary and fashion photographer; He has been art director of magazines such as ELLE México, Life & Style and EMINENTE, in addition to having published important fashion editorials in Vogue México, Atmos, Vogue Italia etc. Author of Mexicano, a photographic project with continuity of more than 10 years with important coverage in national and international media. His photographs have been exhibited at the Whitney Museum in New York at the Photo Vogue Festival 2018, at the Museo del Chopo, at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and at Palais de Tokio.

Connect with Dorian: Instagram

Compassion is more than just an emotion – it's a tool for navigating situations. From the perspective of two practicing Buddhists; we venture into the world of exchanging oneself with others for the betterment of everyone, and discuss what our research taught us about compassion and about ourselves.

Learn more about Manifold and what we do at: www.hellomanifold.com

Welcome to Inclusive Conversations! This journey began with a simple phone call between two friends and inclusive designers discussing how we could learn better from others. Presented by Manifold – an inclusive design consultancy – we're on a mission to share how inclusion, diversity and equity is possible in the world.