This talk explores how we can foster design thinking and belonging in makerspaces. We discuss how various properties of physical space can help empower makers (particularly marginalized makers) to re-imagine/re-make their makerspace. The hope is that this re-imagined makerspace will enhance design thinking, foster belonging, and cultivate “maker” identities.
Making our designs accessible is often something we do after we’ve utilized design thinking to help craft solutions to problems. But what if we could break the ‘do one and then the other’ approach and have both accessibility standards and design thinking work in tandem to develop innovative solutions? Rethinking the iterative approach of design thinking and adding accessibility checks throughout the entire process helps us to achieve truly universal design.
You may be familiar with using UX research and design techniques to develop products and services for your users, but have you ever applied them in your day-to-day work? This session will explore ways to deploy UX skills in meetings, committee work, and other cross-library activities, and offer some examples of ways UX practice can be embedded more deeply in an organization.
