It Doesn't Have To Be Pink! Designing for Women

I will continue with my notes from some Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference. Since this summary has been waiting in my "drafts" for a little while, this entry will contain less "commentaries" :)

Presenters

Jessica R. Cauchard, Funda Kivran-Swaine, Sarah Esper, and Yael Kliper

Abstract

The session aims to change our perception about design, give tools that women use for designing and open a discussion on twitter (@GHCdesignforwoman).

Note: please check for the beautiful designs that we have contributed during the session, from the twitter handle above!

Notes

If we want people to use something, then dedicate it to them.

Laptop for women: Pink laptops, phones, etc.!!!

Hardware-wise: Many of us missed calls because it was in our bags? But men carry phones in their pockets more, so vibration is more effective... Another example, has anyone seen any smart watches for ladies?

Reject assumption

Example: Photos and pictures are with us since the cave paintings to current very high-res photos.

Assume everyone in the room is a designer, so think about a product to help people take photos of themselves. Go find people who are not like you to get some knowledge, even if they are taking really unbelievable selfies. Think about a sportive, outgoing adventurer living far far away. None thinks that he takes selfies, but when you give the selfie-stick to him, he takes incredible selfies from around the world at extreme places!

Outcomes:
  - reject casual cultural observation
  - truth+awareness>stereotypes
  - go out with an open mind
  - challenge assumptions

Woman and Money

Money is exclusive in the male domain. When googled "women+money"= Models, quotes, sad women.. comes as pictures. But when googled "banking"= males across the globe! (almost all business-related hand-shakes belong to men!).

However, there are many females that benefit from and use micro finance. Unfortunately, they have issues getting loans and building credit histories. There are many ways being developed about increasing such. One great example is to include social-presence and influence network into credit score computation. Since women have much more reach on social media and local network, using social media presence as a parameter into the credit issues enhances not only women, but benefits everybody.

More examples include, branch designs for woman, atms for woman, coupon clipping for woman, retirement planning for woman... Think.

Power and Equality

1. shifting the concern from equality to power
2. distributive collaborative learning vs. massive online learning

Online media is more personal, so woman can grow more intimate, one-to-one and caring relationships.

Workshop

We were divided into groups of 5-6 people, and designed! I will explain step-by-step development and give examples from our group's experience.

**Step 1: Select an application to design for.**

The categories included everyday life apps like whatsapp, health and financial applications. We have chosen online-banking, because we needed an app that all members of our team were familiar with.

**Step 2: Describe the app with adjectives and how it makes you feel when using.**

I believe this was the sparkle that started the creativity.