The logo for our design project, titled "Dear Digital Equity", which was proudly presented at Net Inclusion 2023, a large conference held by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance in San Antonio.
We're always better off together.
And together, we can bring connectivity to everyone.
I and a class of 22 fellow students were given a unique task one quarter: to build a website that shared digital equity accomplishments. At the time, most of us had never even heard of that term before. We learned as much as we could about what digital equity meant, and began forming our own designs to build a polished and effective website. Through confusion and uncertainty, we pulled our talents together and created a website all of us are proud of.
Click here to see our website:
Project Definition
Our goal was to create a website showcasing work in the digital equity field and the profiles of digital equity advocates.
Digital Equity refers to a growing field that focuses on bringing internet connectivity to everyone. In a world where technology is a must for almost every field, people who struggle to use the internet and technology lose access to many services, some of which are practically necessary to live in the modern world. Many organizations have stepped up to close this "digital divide" and provide stable internet access to everyone. In this project, we researched how digital equity in Washington state has advanced and what people are doing to help bring technology to Washingtonians. We then took our findings and created a website to showcase the work being done in our communities.
The home page of deardigitalequity.org
Design Process
We followed a "double diamond" design process for this project.
In this process, we first gained insight into our project by researching the digital equity field and possible content we would want to include in the website. We then broke down what was most important to us and defined what our project would fully encompass, which led to our formal project definition. From there, we each worked on standardizing development methods and creating deliverables to put on the website. While we did not execute this process perfectly throughout the quarter, we discovered that our most productive times were during periods that we all understood our tasks and where we were on the double diamond design process. This led us to hold more meetings and take extra measures to ensure that everybody understood what we were working on.
Task Breakdown
My research task was to review various forms of media and to create a method of standardizing everyone's content development workflow.
In doing this, our entire team was provided with standards and direction for what their content had to include and how they could make it. Me and my team discussed composition, formatting, writing techniques, and accessibility practices to make sure that all content uploaded to the site was of a similar quality.
Additionally, the website's development was broken into three sections: Advocate Profiles, Stories and Explainers, and "Digital Equity as Design" posts.
This structure was chosen for two reasons. Firstly, because our instructors wanted to give us experience developing different forms of content. Secondly, we did this to adhere to the Rule of Three with the understanding that content presented in groups of three appear more memorable and polished to an audience.
A screenshot of a document used to create an advocate profile for my interviewee, Dustin Loup.
An early wireframe for our website.
Challenges
Our team was confused with our tasks at some points, but we learned to set goals and communicate effectively.
The biggest challenge we faced while working on Dear Digital Equity was understanding our goals as a team. We had not been given a very rigid assignment and had to research and decide on our own how we would accomplish certain tasks. This taught us about the "fuzzy front end" and the importance of making clarity in confusion. By giving ourselves time to first research and discover the field we were working with, we prepared ourselves with personal background knowledge. We then took our findings and held meetings in which we defined exactly what we were trying to do and made sure everyone understood what had to be done. This changed our design process as a cohort from confused and uncoordinated efforts to a streamlined workflow where everyone could contribute work that fit together.
Conclusion
By utilizing a working design process and breaking work into smaller projects, our cohort created a professional looking website that shares digital equity's progress and the stories of digital equity advocates.
In my experience working on this project, I learned about the importance of establishing a process with a team and defining goals to succeed. In my research, I helped to create a standardized way for people to submit their contributions, and in my content development, I learned how to research data and interview people. This project has given me practical skills to create professional media and to work effectively on a design team.
The final profile page for Dustin Loup, which was one of my deliverables.
Here are a few more images from our design process and final product!
Click here to find Dear Digital Equity's social media links!
A class photo used for our project presentation.
A profile snippet teased on our project's Instagram page.
The final "Stories and Explainers" page on deardigitalequity.org
An early-stage branding and brainstorming guide.
A prototype home page.
