Points of Exclusion

Something that really stuck out to me while reading Microsoft’s PDF brochure, Inclusive Microsoft Design, was when it stated, “when it comes to people, there’s no such thing as ‘normal'”. This message has been repeating in my head for quite a while now. In designing something so important for a brand that is just starting out, I want to make sure that I keep this phrase relevant in my design, both for the sake of the brand, and for the sake of all people who wish to engage with it.

With that being said, two of my primary deliverables will be produced as a recorded podcast and as social media pages. Podcasts, though very inclusive for those who are hard of sight, are very exclusive to those who have a full hearing ability. Audio can only be so inclusive to those who unable to clearly hear. As for social media, I believe that a lot of media today is beginning to cater to those who have previously been excluded from being able to interact and engage within it. With no speak to text or closed caption availability, their interactions are being hindered by the inability to be able to properly consume the media in front of them. Both of these exclusion points are relevant to the article’s points on disability not categorized as a “personal attribute”, but rather as “context dependent”. Disability is not a personal health condition, but rather mismatched human interactions.

 

Access Design Solutions

As mentioned, social media, specifically Instagram, provide great solutions for being inclusive of everyone, whether it be alt text, captions, audio, speech to text, and more. Hoot Suite provides an incredible example of some best practices in terms of social media. Acadecraft also wrote an incredible tutorial-styled guide on how to incorporate the best inclusive practices, including incorporating transcripts, translated content, accessibility auditing, and more.

These two design solutions align very well with not only the exclusion points, but also with the section from Microsoft’s article on “Temporary Mismatched Human Interactions”. As an example, someone with one arm and a mother of a newborn could benefit greatly from speech to text on social media, a deaf individual and an individual with a hearing infection could benefit from closed captioning, and so on.

 

Project Distribution

The way I would like no not only generate buzz around my project but also distribute the deliverables as a whole vary by product. To get the initial engagement and interest in my project, I am going to be reposting content on the brand’s social media, talking about it to friends and family members, and engaging with the brand itself. Being that the targeted audience for this podcast is within the age range of 18-50, I am going to be posting and creating content that will include and engage those people. I am going to spread the word to everyone I know in that age bracket, and I am going to cater all of my deliverables to everyone, not just the people I shape my biases around, by remembering everything I have mentioned previously and implementing these practices to the best of my ability.