Love in the Time of Coronavirus: what the pandemic can teach us about creating a more caring, inclusive, and equitable world.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that many things we thought couldn’t be done, in fact can be. Companies that insisted on full-time, inflexible, working hours pivoted overnight to be fully remote. People who thought they didn’t have any creative skills started baking sourdough bread and knitting scarves. Businesses that used to distil alcohol now produce hand sanitiser. And communities have come together to feed and care for their most vulnerable members. This new perspective on what’s possible gives us an extraordinary opportunity to hit the reset button and reimagine a global future that speaks to collaboration, flexibility, and inclusivity. In this talk we’ll explore examples of how key aspects of our lives have changed during the pandemic, and how the lessons we’ve learned from these experiences can help us design systems, services, and products that are accessible, human-centred, and equitable.

Transcript

1. Love in the Time of
   Coronavirus*
   What a pandemic can teach us about creating a more
   caring, inclusive, and equitable world
   * with huge respect and love for the writings of Gabriel García Márquez
   

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2. The most important thing in this talk
   We can choose a more
   human-centered way
   

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3. Who the heck are we?
   Nicola du Toit
   Product designer working at
   Luno, living in Joburg
   @sophdex
   linkedin.com/in/
   nicoladutoit
   nicoladutoit.com
   

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4. Steve Barnett
   Front-end developer and UX
   person working at Totara,
   living in New Zealand
   Who the heck are we?
   @maxbarners
   linkedin.com/in/
   steve-barnett
   naga.co.za
   

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5. Quick question (foreshadowing!)
   What’s the most recent thing
   you’ve done that was
   human-centered?
   

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6. Agenda
   1. “The COVID switch”
   2. Examples
   3. How does this help us as designers?
   

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7. “The COVID switch” 1 of 2
   ● COVID-19 is highlighting, for more people,
   a wide set of systemic and structural
   inequalities in the world.
   ● Of course, this stuff has been clear to many
   people for a long time, namely the people
   directly affected by it.
   
   
   

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8. “The COVID switch” 2 of 2
   Can’t be done ➡ can be
   done.
   ➡
   
   

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9. Agenda
   1. ✔ “The COVID switch”
   2. Examples
   3. How does this help us as designers?
   

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10. Before COVID
    For medical care and test results, we had to:
    ● pay money to travel and see a doctor or nurse
    in person.
    ● queue with lots of other sick people.
    ● wait days or weeks for test results.
    Example 1: Access to healthcare
    

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11. During COVID
    ● Many medical services are free and online.
    ● We have drive-thru testing.
    ● We can get test results in hours - by text
    or via WhatsApp!
    Example 1: Access to healthcare
    

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12. Before COVID
    Most of us had to:
    ● Survive a long commute to work.
    ● Work Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.
    ● Work in busy, noisy, open plan spaces.
    Example 2: Working from home
    

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13. During COVID
    ● No more commuting in awful traffic!
    ● More flexible hours!
    ● More relaxed working environments that
    we can control!
    ● Pyjama pants and office pets!
    Example 2: Working from home
    

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14. Example 3: Community care
    Before COVID
    ● We didn’t necessarily know our neighbours.
    ● We weren’t engaging with our community.
    ● We weren’t taking collective responsibility
    for the well-being of other humans.
    

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15. Example 3: Community care
    During COVID
    ● We are reaching out and supporting each
    other more.
    ● We are self-organizing to help those in need.
    ● We are taking better collective
    responsibility for everyone’s well-being.
    

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16. 2020 has been horrible
    This year has been really shite.
    But some things have become
    more human-centered, and we
    can use this.
    

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17. Agenda
    1. ✔ “The COVID switch”
    2. ✔ Examples
    3. How does this help us as designers?
    

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18. How does this help us as designers?
    The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us
    that humans are actually really good at being:
    ● Empathetic
    ● Flexible
    ● Inclusive
    

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19. How does this help us as designers?
    When we do human-centred design:
    ● Can’t be done becomes can be done!
    ● Unusable becomes user-friendly!
    ● Feature-focused becomes human-centred!
    ➡
    

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20. Empathy
    For example: do user research with the actual
    humans we’re designing for.
    Understand who they are, what they need, and
    how our product can help them.
    
    

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21. Flexibility
    For example: make stuff that works for a wide
    range of technology.
    We can build products and services that work
    on a variety of screen sizes, on low bandwidth
    and at slow speeds, on older and slower
    devices.
    
    

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22. Inclusivity
    For example: accessibility! Remove barriers
    that might block people from using our stuff
    (e.g. low colour contrast, small fonts, not
    keyboard-friendly).
    Making things even a little more accessible will
    improve our product for everyone!
    
    

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23. Quick question (callback!)
    What's the next thing you can do
    in a more human-centred way?
    

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24. Agenda - recap edition
    1. ✔ “The COVID switch”
    2. ✔ Examples
    3. ✔ How does this help us as designers?
    

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25. Recap: the most important thing in this talk
    We can (still) choose a more
    human-centered way!
    

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26. “It doesn't have to be perfect, it just needs to be a little bit
    better than yesterday." - Leonie Watson
    

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27. Love in the Time of
    Coronavirus
    Thank you!
    Slides at bit.ly/uxsa2020
    

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28. Questions?
    
    Nicola: nicoladutoit.com || @sophdex || linkedin.com/in/nicoladutoit
    Steve: naga.co.za || @maxbarners || linkedin.com/in/steve-barnett
    Slides at bit.ly/uxsa2020
    

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