How might your design unintentionally reinforce existing social norms?

How might your design influence users? How might it impact a user’s life conditions and opportunities? How might it free people from repetitive tasks and foster educational and work opportunities?

How might your product challenge stereotypes in ways that promote social and environmental justice?

Where does your product or service succeed across intersectional factors?

How might your product or service work across socio-cultural norms, religious ideologies, incomes, race, ethnicities, and geographic locations?

Where does it fall short?

What kind of future worlds would you like to see your design working within?

For example, how might your design fit into a genderless world? An intergenerational world? A socially just world? Which will your product, experience, or service foster?

Social Robots

Key Intersecting Factors: Disability, Gender, Race

Humans—whether as designers or users—tend to anthropomorphize and, consequently, gender machines (because, in human cultures, gender is a primary social category). Social robots are designed in a world alive with gender norms, gender identities, and gender relations. Social critics point out that, even though robots are plastic, most are white—and many have blue eyes, which may be problematic from an ethnic point of view.

Robokind’s assistive robots for students on the autism spectrum come in a variety of skin tones and genders: a lighter-skinned Milo, a darker-skinned Carver, a lighter-skinned Veda, and a darker-skinned Jemi. Even though autism is four times more common among boys than among girls, it is important to have robots for the millions of girls faced with the challenges of the disorder. Customizable options might enhance human/robot interaction.

Marine Science

Key Intersecting Factors: Sex, Social and Economic Status, Sustainability

Did you know that in many marine organisms, such as turtles, sex is determined by temperature? Other sea creatures morph from one sex to another. Some are protandrous hermaphrodites—starting life as male, then changing into female. Others are protogynous hermaphrodites—starting as female, then changing into male. Analyzing sex-based responses to climate change enables better modeling of demographic change among marine organisms and downstream impacts on humans.

Sex changes may also be influenced by social status. Clownfish, for example, live in a strict social hierarchy with a single dominant female at the top, who matures and mates with a single large male. Removal of the alpha female results in the alpha male changing their sex to female, with all subordinates moving up a rung on the social ladder.

Sports Hijabs

Key Intersecting Factors: Gender, Ethnicity

Sports hijabs take into account the needs of women Muslim athletes. These include modest sportswear and a breathable fabric that allows the garment to fit their head and their sport. The sports hijab has the potential to break down barriers preventing participation and spark a cultural shift to see more women embrace sports.

The Dutch company Capsters first designed a sports hijab in 2001— followed by Nike.

Haptic Technology

Key Intersecting Factors: Age, Gender, Ethnicity

Can touch between a human and a robot or mediating haptic device have the same meaning as it does between two humans? Should robot touch follow human conventions?

Engineers are designing new ways to communicate touch virtually through haptic devices. How do factors, such as gender, ethnicity, and age operate in social touch? As engineers seek to reproduce human social touch as closely as possible, it is important to understand the strong (largely unwritten) rules of etiquette governing human social touch. For example, women are allowed to touch each other more than men are. Everyone is allowed to touch hands and shoulders, while other body parts are off limits except for intimate partners.