Intersecting Social Factors

Our design case studies include — but are not limited to — these twelve intersecting factors.

Other factors include: Appearance, Language, Political Ideology, Religion, Immigrant Status, Work Background, Physical and Mental Health, Indigeneity, and more.

What other intersectional factors might be relevant?
We want to hear from you with design examples related to intersectional factors!

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Age

Refers to chronological physical age, emotional age, life-course transitions, such as from youth to adult or perimenopause to menopause, etc. Why is this relevant? For example, products, such as crash test dummies, may model young people’s bodies and not capture the fragility of older bones.

Disability

Refers to different physical or neural divergent conditions that relate to movement, sense, or activities. Disabilities may impact how people interact with a product or service. Some may be visually impaired; others may have limited mobility or dexterity.

Educational Background

Educational background refers to educational attainment or level of education of individuals.

Ethnicity

Ethnicity denotes groups that share a common identity-based ancestry, language, or culture. Ethnicity is often based on religion, beliefs, and customs as well as memories of migration or colonization.

Family Configuration

Family configuration refers to a group of people who form intimate relationships, networks, and sometimes households. These vary greatly and may include partners, children (biological, adopted, or welcomed), parents, stepparents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and any versions of these and other relationships.

Gender

Refers to cultural attitudes and behaviors that shape products, technologies, environments, and knowledge—and includes: gender norms, gender identity, and gender relations.

Gender is multi-dimensional and may include women, men, transgender, genderqueer, gender-diverse individuals, non-binary, etc.

Geographic Location

Refers to a position on the earth, such as the Global North or Global South; rural, urban, or suburban areas. Geographic location may impact access to technology or represent overlooked languages and cultures.

Race

Racial attributes, such as skin tone, may be important to design for developing technologies; e.g., facial recognition or infrared sensors may perform differently on different skin tones. In the U.S., the term race is used. However, terminology may differ across countries.

Sex

Refers to biological characteristics, such as height, weight, physiology, etc.

Sex is on a spectrum, and includes: female, male, and intersex.

Sexuality

Refers to a person’s sexual identity in relation to the gender to which they are attracted. This may include cisgender, asexual, pansexual, LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, plus other distinct orientations).

Social and Economic Status

Refers to the social status of an individual or group. For humans, it measures a combination of income and occupational achievement that may be determined by access to education or other resources crucial to social wellbeing. For non-human animals, it denotes position in dominance hierarchies.

Sustainability

Refers to environmentally responsible design that meets the needs of the present without compromising future generations. One sustainable design approach is Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA), a methodology for assessing environmental impacts associated with all stages of the life cycle of a product, process, or service.