Hidden biases in design

We just had the most fantastic Ask the UXperts session with Erin Hoffman-John (game designer extraordinaire) and I feel inspired. We talked about designing inclusively, hidden biases, ethics and the relationship between authority & design.

As a game designer Erin is often confronted by issues of exclusivity.

Choosing a protagonist for a game becomes incredibly complicated when you are supposed to be reaching all kids at all socioeconomic levels.

Along the same lines, when choosing a character in a game you are generally forced to make a binary gender decision.

Do you come across these sorts of issues in your job? Are you mindful of them?

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I use to work for a sex toy company and it was important to not come across as sleazy or gender biased. We where about as family friendly as you can get considering the industry. It really became a big USP for the company

I’m now working for a cloud software co so this really isn’t much of an issue, though a few eyebrows where raised when I added Mx as a title in the drop down for our sign up page.

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Love this!