Introduction
The technology and information industry is moving in leaps and bounds towards new horizons that give rise to increasingly necessary conversations; one of them: diversity and inclusion of LGBTQI+ communities. However, it is necessary to recognise that, as in many other industries, the worldview is still limited by perspectives that do not contemplate the complexity and plurality of our society.
Design – from its many dimensions – has the potential to make a much more relevant and meaningful impact on modern social dilemmas, beyond the marketing strategies used by many companies worldwide to celebrate Pride month and other causes. Sometimes these strategies are limited to changing their social media profile picture to display a rainbow in their logos, and while this may be empathetic to the cause of LGBTQI+ communities, it is often not done in an authentic way, so creating a real connection with people is not possible. In other words, it is clear to users when a brand is truly sympathetic to the struggle for equality and inclusion through its actions.
But then, how can we better connect with LGBTQI+ communities through design and user experience?
Gender and Sexual Orientation
When we think about the relationship between digital product design and LGBTQI+ communities, the most obvious pain point is the questions about sexuality and gender that we find on registration forms that we have all filled out at some point in our lives. Unfortunately, the concepts of gender and sexuality continue to be distorted and misrepresented. To remedy this, it is necessary to understand the difference between the two concepts, as they are often confused with each other.
First, gender does not refer to a person’s biological condition. The spectrum of gender can be understood from three different approaches: on the one hand, biological sex, which is based on the sexual organs one is born with; then there is gender identity, which has to do with the perception that each person has of themselves; and finally we have gender expression, which is the external manifestation of certain social and cultural traits that allow a person to be identified as masculine, feminine or under another definition. Sexual orientation, on the other hand, explains the attraction and desire to establish, or not, both affective and sexual bonds with another person.
UX Process by UX Indonesia
Empathy in UX
However, in order to design pleasant and appropriate experiences for each audience, it is necessary to have these concepts clear and to know how to differentiate them, as this is a very significant factor that can cause a feeling of rejection in users. The relevance of the questions asked about gender and sexual orientation is fundamental when thinking about these forms. For example, it is not always relevant to ask about this, unless very specific medical or demographic data is needed.
This is why accessibility and inclusiveness must be essential pillars of design. One of the most important qualities of a designer is empathy, without which it would be impossible to innovate and provide solutions to the problems we face. We must think about inclusion, not only in the final result, but as a factor present in our work methodologies from the early stages of a project. Including the voices of LGBTQI+ people in research processes, information gathering, testing, among others, will allow us to have a much broader and more authentic vision of the context and the real difficulties of users.
Recognition and Visibilisation
This brings me to my last point: it is precisely the lack of empathy as a society that has biased us and has not allowed us to recognise the struggles that LGBTQI+ communities have fought for and won. And, although there have been great advances on a political and social level, we still have a long way to go to achieve environments free of prejudice and open to the difference that, at the end of the day, makes us unique.
Design has a very significant role to play in our society, helping us to understand human interactions and to respond to needs and opportunities that arise from these processes of exploration and research.
On the one hand, we have the language from which we speak to our users. As designers, we need to understand the diversity of identities in order to communicate through an appropriate tone of voice that accommodates the LGBTQI+ community in a respectful way. It is also essential to identify how in different contexts there are specific needs that can be addressed through design strategies.
Implementing labels on tourism services so that users can identify LGBTQI+ friendly places, allowing trans or non-binary people to use their social names or appropriate titles such as “Mx” instead of “Mr” and “Ms” on event tickets, flight tickets, identification documents, etc. These are some examples of how design and user experience recognise the LGBTQI+ community and encourage LGBTQI+ scenarios and conversations.
Conclusion
In short, through an empathetic and conscious UX design process it is possible to generate a positive impact on the conflicts and struggles that LGBTQI+ communities carry out, beyond generating commercial actions. In the end, the activism of these communities seeks to win spaces to be heard and represented in society based on their diversity. In this sense, design has the capacity to sow seeds for change, from attention to detail in the fields and questions on a form, to fostering pleasant environments and conversations in which diversity and inclusion are made visible. “There is nothing revolutionary about technology if it is only for a limited number of people” (Roniece, 2018).
