Surfacing

In this episode, Andy and Lisa talk to the designer, speaker, and educator Regine Gilbert. Regine is the author of "Inclusive Design for a Digital World: Designing with Accessibility in Mind." Regine explains what accessibility means and consider why makers and business don't build accessible products—and how to shift that trend. Regine also offers advice for designers and makers who work in organizations where accessibility and inclusive design aren't priorities.

Episode transcript

About Regine Gilbert

Regine Gilbert is a user experience designer, educator, and international public speaker with over 10 years of experience working in the technology arena. She has a strong belief in making the world a more accessible place—one that starts and ends with the user.

Regine's areas of research focus are digital accessibility, inclusive design, and immersive experiences.

In 2019, Regine's first book, 'Inclusive Design for a Digital World: Designing with Accessibility in Mind (Design Thinking) was released through Apress publishing.

Regine's Twitter handle: @reg_inee

Regine's website

People & Places Regine Talks About

Doug North Cook

NYU Tandon School of Engineering - Integrated Design & Media, M.S.

Gus Chalkias

Kat Holmes

A11Y – Meetup Groups

National Association of Black Journalists

Matt May – Head of Inclusive Design at Adobe

Don Norman article, "I wrote the book on user-friendly design. What I see today horrifies me"

Association for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe

W3C – Accessibility

The WebAIM Million

The Blind Man Who Invented Cruise Control

XR Axis – Virtual, Augmented, & Mixed Reality for People with Disabilities

ARISA Lab

NASA Soundscapes

In this episode, Andy and Lisa have a conversation with Dean Broadley. Dean is a South Africa-- based design team lead. He talks about how his wide-ranging experience as a digital practitioner and manager and his love of gardening have given him insights into growing people and teams in an organization. We also get Dean's perspective on digital innovation and new technology adoption in South Africa.

Podcast Transcript

About Dean Broadley

Dean is a Design Executive from Cape Town, South Africa. He's spent his career working hard to connect experiences in the physical, digital and career spaces and finds great value in leaving things more human than he found them.

Currently the Founder of Designing Humans, an organisation dedicated to professionalising & strengthening design in Africa, he spends his time mentoring individuals, assisting enterprise design executives demonstrating the value of design, managing design practice at scale, raising design literacy and developing sustainable talent pipelines.

Previously, Dean has worked in startups and tech businesses as a Product Designer, been an executive design director for a multi-national bank and a digital communications specialist.

Outside of work, Dean spends his time with Design communities in South Africa creating the platform for designers to share, learn and improve through the practice of being human.

He is also an avid Chili breeder 🌶.

References & Links

Coffee can Internet bring wireless Internet to a remote area

Crossing Chile Peppers

Smokin' Ed Currie and the Carolina Reaper

How to Make a No Dig Garden Bed With Charles Dowding

In this first Surfacing deep dive, host Lisa Welchman and Andy Vitale talk about design and governance. Why do designers feel that they don't have a seat at the table when making decisions about creating the customer experience? And what happens when they do? What is the conflict between the designer's role and those that make the rules for the organization, and how can the disciplines of governance and design work together to improve the customer experience and the experience of being on the digital team?

Episode transcript

About the Hosts

Lisa Welchman is a digital governance pioneer who helps organizations become more intentional about operating online. She coaches and trains digital leaders and teams across the globe.

Lisa has brought her expertise to some of the most impactful organizations globally, including many of the Global 500, universities and colleges, NGOs, and national governments.

An advocate for better digital governance, Lisa's research interests center around defining a digital safety maturity life cycle that helps organizations understand how to build safer and more ethical web experiences. Lisa speaks at conferences globally and is the author of Managing Chaos: Digital Governance by Design.

Andy Vitale has a track-record of fostering design excellence and shaping teams into organizational powerhouses that develops design into a competitive advantage. Andy currently leads the design organization as Chief Design Officer at Constant Contact, the digital marketing and automation platform. He was previously the EVP, Design at Rocket Companies, the nation's premier mortgage lender; and GVP, Head of Design at Truist, one of the largest banks in the U.S. Andy is an Adjunct Professor in the User Experience Design graduate program at Kent State University.

In this episode, Lisa and Andy talk to Whitney Quesenbery about elections, the importance of ballot design, the role of election officials, and how she and others at the Center for Civic Design are working to improve the experience of voting.

Episode transcript

About Whitney Quesenbery:

Whitney Quesenbery is the co-founder of the Center for Civic Design. She's passionate about making interactions with government effective and enjoyable, giving design literacy to elections and other government workers, and on a mission to ensure voter intent through design.

Whitney publishes, presents, and teaches workshops on personas, usability and user research, plain language, and accessibility and has served on federal advisory committees for voting system design and Section 508.

Before being seduced by a little beige computer into software, usability, and interface design, she was a theatrical lighting designer on and off-Broadway, learning about storytelling from some of the masters.

Whitney is the author of three books:

• A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences (with Sarah Horton)
• Storytelling for User Experience (with Kevin Brooks)
• Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World (with Daniel Szuc)

References:

Civic Design Field Guides

Center for Civic Design