Intentions of My Project

With the SJUspeaks Instagram account, I hope to incorporate various voices (of students at SJU) in a unified account to sustain, heal and empower SJU as a whole. It makes way for these voices to be heard and recognized which can be noticed to advocate for changes to improve systems and the campus community. 

 

The Impact

I hope that the account will be able to bring attention to potential issues or concerns, or bring attention to success stories/tips from students at SJU— of which will help inspire others and facilitate change among the community. I hope that students will feel comfortable sharing their unfiltered voices to be posted on this account; to participate in something greater. The account is fully centered around SJU students, their voices and their lived experiences. 

I also want students to feel connected to the account and its purpose: the design of the account will incorporate familiar SJU-adjacent colors and iconography, though not directly affiliated but still related. As the designer, I also aim to be a facilitator in the process, using chosen design practices to get across various ideas through SJUspeaks!

 

Best and Worst Case Scenarios

The best case scenario is that the account gains a lot of attention and an even greater following; and that students feel compelled and comfortable sharing their concerns/tips/comments/experiences. Hopefully, SJU administrators and organizations on campus will see my account and work towards making changes to concerns that SJU students’ have. 

I feel like the worst case scenario would be that the account doesn’t become as successful as I envision it to be; or that people don’t want to contribute or involve themselves. SJU admin could potentially make me shut it down or I could get in trouble with marcomm for using similar colors and iconography to represent SJU, which would also be an absolute worst case scenario. 

 

Different Personal Identities & Design

I know I will need to incorporate many different types of people and consider diversity in my design practices. These will impact my design decisions, especially in terms of photography, videography, accessibility, and more. 

 

Missing Perspectives & Misrepresentation

I am a straight white woman and I know my experiences at SJU are likely very different from other minority groups’ experiences. I have my own experiences, tips, concerns, etc. but they may not apply to the entire community. I need to ensure that I am incorporating a variety of perspectives and letting every voice be represented on SJUspeaks. 

 

Inclusion

Since SJU is not extremely diverse, it may be difficult to include many different people of color, disabilities, people of other religions, other sexualities, religions, and even those who struggle with disorders or mental health.  I will need to be intentional about seeking out these people that contribute to the community differently. I’ll be sure to ask questions in interviews like “what are your pronouns?”, “what is your ethnicity?”, and “does this impact your campus experience at SJU in any way?”. I will also be sure to incorporate the question, “what else would you like to share?” or “is there a previous question I asked that you would like to revisit?” in order for participants to get a chance to share in ways my questions may not have prompted them to originally. 

 

Potential Pitfalls

The article “How to Begin Designing for Diversity” caused me to consider a couple of potential pitfalls that can be common in designing for diversity. I feel like I need to overcome my fear of engaging with communities I’m not familiar with, and get rid of this sort of “savior” mentality that I have that this account will fix everything (it won’t).