Dear Digital Equity
Designing resources for digital equity advocates in Washington state
Overview
Due to digital equity practices and policies being a relatively new realm in the state of Washington, practitioners, policy makers and the engaged public oftentimes can have gaps in understanding of what fellow digital equity advocates are doing.
Since much of the digital advocacy work in Washington state is not given one cohesive platform or space to share their work on, a gap exists in the growing and also crucial field of digital equity. The Dear Digital Equity (DDE) website was a quarter-long project which aimed to fill the perceived gap of knowledge between many groups of people in Washington state in the digital equity space.
Role
Product Design
Mockups, Wireframes, Accessibility research
Project Type
School Project
Duration
Oct 2022 – Dec 2022
Problem
How might we provide a cohesive platform for digital advocacy work in order to fill a gap of knowledge in Washington state?
Discover
We started off the project with discovering needs through stakeholder interview sessions, including with Daniel Pak, co-founder and executive director of Totem Star, a nonprofit organization founded in 2010 centered around engaging underprivileged youth through music. As we talked with him and other digital equity advocates, we received lots of notable information.
"The first word, of course, that comes to mind is equity, and what equity means is access. It means making sure the playing field is even for everyone involved in the community."
— Daniel Pak
Define
Keeping in mind asks from our stakeholders while also having our design informed by interviews with digital equity advocates to make sure it is accessible for all, I began to draft information architecture maps on paper. These were done quickly in order to capture ideas in the moment, as they were being brought up.
Following the stakeholder interview, we began by conducting preliminary research and work towards planning for the website. Our professors instructed the cohort to split off into various teams, and I was split into the Web Platform team while others did further research on existing products and personas.
I did initial research into accessibility based on different website builders, namely Squarespace, Wix, and WordPress.
I used resources including the WCAG 2.1 Document as well as the ADA Tool Kit to inform most of the items on this checklist, but prioritized A (basic) level concerns over AAA (higher/idealistic) level web accessibility concerns.
Develop
Using colors determined by the class, I designed a style guide and drafted a possible logo for the project. However, due to the colors not meeting accessibility standards, this concept was scrapped and a different logo was used.
I also drafted wireframes in Figma for the website itself, and collaborated with members from other teams on ways to best represent the content.
Inspired by work done on the website, I also wanted to draft a web app prototype and created one in a day as a personal design sprint.
However, I received feedback from others that those who do not have equitable access to devices are unlikely to download an app, so this concept was removed. Instead, more time was spent on developing a mobile friendly version of the existing website.
With a request to add a filtering system to stories and explainers on digital equity, I attempted to recreate my original wireframe in Squarespace, though due to limitations had to omit a detailed filter system and instead utilized tags.
Deliver
Through the collective work of the cohort, we were able to launch our website on December 8th to the public.
Reflection
This was my first time working with a larger group (~20 people) on a design project. On previous design projects I either worked in very small groups of 2-3 people or by myself, and I noticed I didn’t have as much opportunity for hands-on design work in comparison to previous experiences, as I mostly did work towards the beginning. Still, it was a rewarding experience to get to know my design peers and work with prominent figures in the digital equity field in Washington.
Next Steps
- Continue to expand on adding advocate profiles
- Improve stories and explainers language, so that visitors understand what it is
- Continue to check for accessibility needs on the website