Recap: Participatory and Inclusive Design Processes

On April 6, Professor Ralph Vacca explored how design can be improved by including those the design seeks to serve. As an example, Vacca discussed his work with Latina high school students in Washington Heights. By “facilitating without facilitating,” Vacca was able to guide the students through designing solutions for their problems. In this instance, the girls discussed how even though they turn to their mothers first with personal problems, they don’t feel comfortable talking about every problem with their mom. So, with the help of NYU students, they designed an app that combined funny pictures with NYC Open Data to help them talk through issues like smoking and dating in a way that made sense for them and their moms.