We all have varying visions of what the future of inclusivity in design looks like and this can create a challenge as we navigate together towards an improved future state. In this strategic planning workshop, we’ll explore our collective understanding of the past and envision possible futures of inclusive design.
One of the most difficult challenges in moving towards more inclusivity in design is understanding the future state that we’re trying to achieve and how our past experiences influence that future vision. What are we aiming for? What should the world look like as a result of our efforts? What unintentional consequences do we want to avoid? The answer is different for everyone and there’s much to be gained from sharing our different visions, hopes, and fears for the future.
In this alternative strategic planning workshop, we, as a group, will highlight and compare the range of perspectives we can take in understanding our pasts and the possibilities of our futures in inclusive design.
Developed by Cognitive Edge, the Future Backwards activity is used to identify the patterns and perceptions of the past that influence our vision of the future and to identify how we might break out of those patterns. It also highlights the similarities and differences between an individual or group’s perception of what might be a good or bad future state—one person’s “ideal” can often be another person’s “terrible”. Finally, it helps us to identify the key events, actions, or turning points that might put us on a certain path to these futures.
Participants will work in groups to:
Workshop outputs and emerging themes and reflections will be shared with participants after the workshop.
Deborah MacKenzie
Jacqueline Antalik
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Winnie Ho
Gordon Ross
As a Senior User Experience Designer at OXD, Deb is passionate about participatory design as a way of facilitating a human-centred design process. She believes that design methods are a powerful tool to be used in many contexts to solve problems that matter and she’s excited about the potential for using design to create social change. Deb is devoted to connecting with the design community, sharing experiences, and learning in the process.
She has worked with clients such as the British Columbia Ministry of Health (COVID-19 vaccine rollout), the British Columbia Ministry of Education, the British Columbia Ministry of the Attorney General, BC Hydro, FortisBC, and TELUS. She also taught a Masters degree Intro to UX course at the Centre for Digital Media, Canada’s first professional graduate degree program in Digital Media.
As Director of User Experience at OXD, Jacqueline works closely with clients to define and execute on the service experience their end-users desire and demand. She strives to deliver insightful, yet pragmatic solutions that result in human-centred services.
Designing and delivering positive, meaningful user experiences isn't just about the tools and methods. End-users have their own unique experiences, personal needs, pain points, and fresh ideas—and it's this opportunity for unearthing the human connection that motivates Jacqueline as an experience designer. With close to 20 years of industry experience, she has worked with a wide range of clients including TELUS, TransLink, BC Hydro, and the British Columbia Ministry of the Attorney General. She has extensive workshop facilitation experience utilizing a wide variety of workshop methods and activities, and is a big proponent of co-creation with both the client and end-users.
Winnie Ho is a Senior User Experience Designer at OXD with more than ten years of practitioner experience. She seeks to understand the goals and needs of those she is designing for and improve the usability, utility, and enjoyment of interactions between end-users and services informed by research and data. From being out in the wild conducting contextual inquiries and intercepts, to being at her desk considering the detailed interactions, to testing prototypes out with users, she is involved heavily in all aspects of the human-centred design process.
Winnie has worked with TransLink, University of British Columbia, Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training, and the Government of Alberta.
Gordon Ross is Vice President and partner at OXD, an end-to-end design and technology-consulting firm based in Vancouver, Canada. He has led the design of compelling digital services for more 25 years —working with both the public and private sectors and advocating for human-centered and participatory design. His portfolio includes extensive work with government at city, provincial, and national levels, including the City of Vancouver, the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, the government of Canada.