SAID Project- Creating a platform to help minorities in design
This research project aims to get a better understanding of why a specific minority (South Asians) lacks representation in the design industry.
Overview
Currently, about 6 million South Asians live in the United States. In STEM-related job fields, roughly 17% of those employed are South Asians. When we compare this to other industries, there seems to be a lack of Asians in areas like art and entertainment, where they only make up about 4.2% of those employed.
Goals
Open up the conversation and educate the South Asian diaspora on alternate career paths that I was not aware of.
Bringing diversity and alternate perspectives and opinions to the art and design world
Year
2020-2021
Role
Lead researcher and designer. Conducted user interviews, synthesis sessions, persona development, workshops, design and strategy
Tools Used
Sketch, Keynote, Mural, Miro, UserInterviews.com, SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics
The Process
Research
I started my research by asking the question, why aren’t South Asians participating in the arts? To answer my question, I first needed to uncover and understand people’s current decision-making process and who and what in their life is influencing their current career choices. This consisted of
1:1 interviews across four target groups
Surveys across the US
Synthesis
Three key themes started to emerge after my initial rounds of interviews and synthesis
Access to Information - There seems to be a lack of information surrounding the arts and other careers outside of STEM-related fields in the South Asian community.
Lived Experiences - We've become set on certain ideas or images of what success is. Our environment and exposure to the arts is what opens our mind to the possibility of these other careers/success paths
Power of Community - Choosing a career path is often influenced by our parents, community, and those closest to us.
Ideate and Test
After several workshops around the themes listed above, I was able to synthesize my research down to 4 key opportunity areas that would influence my design concepts.
Networking and mentorship - Create opportunities for both parents and children to connect with those who are successful, where they can find advice and guidance.
Show Proof - Show parents and kids what success actually looks like in art and design.
Look Beyond the Classroom - Give students an opportunity outside of the traditional classroom environment where they can explore other skills such as creativity, visual thinking, etc.
Create Outlets of reflection - Give parents an outlet to reflect and gain an understanding that there are other components to success beyond finance such as happiness.
Design Strategy
Enlighten
After testing several concepts I landed on one idea that seemed to click with all of my participants. The SAID platform would create a network of South Asian artists and designers that could lean on each other and inspire the future generation. It would first start as a social movement where the artist would share their personal experience and journey (anything from how they communicated with their parents to how they broke into the art and design industry) this would eventually evolve into a platform where artists and designers could connect with each other. Built into this would also be the opportunity to act as a mentor for the younger artist in the community.
Transform
The SAID platform would give the youth something to point to when explaining to their parents what it is they would like to do. It would have examples of the success and journeys of people who look and sound like them. This will ultimately transform the conversations happening at home.
Embrace
Once the conversations at home begin to change hopefully the idea of a career in the arts becomes more accepted in to the South Asian communities
