#InclusiveByDesign is an open meeting for College of Design faculty and students at Iowa State to discuss diversity and inclusivity in design. This discussion allows participants to lead the meeting with their own discussion and dissemination of their ideas.

The September 8 meeting was virtual through Zoom, where participants were encouraged to brainstorm questions to promote discussion related to inclusivity for students in the College of Design. These questions were separated into a spreadsheet and participants went into breakout groups to discuss the topics of their interest.

The questions addressed were: How does the College of Design remove barriers in the classroom, provide diverse materials and resources in the classroom, build community and establish an environment that requires people to remain open to others’ ideas? The last segment of the meeting was dedicated to reviewing the dissemination in the breakout groups.

One of the things that was brought up about the topic of barriers was the feeling of disassociation in a virtual environment. These feelings and concerns of disassociation were shared by both faculty and students; Faculty explained their concern regarding virtual environments as the inability to get the same kind of familiarity as seen in physical classrooms. Students brought up the struggles of learning online — detachment from their peers and technological barriers.

The conversation based on material diversity introduced hopes to decentralize the College of Design’s curriculum to incorporate different perspectives and encourage views from varied backgrounds. The group shared concerns about the lack of people of color in design, and the continuing decline of diversity in the field.

The third topic addressed the fear of a design community disconnect due to a lack of expression. The group brought up college presentations and their lack of artistic expression. The group also brought up points that asked questions about how the College of Design could promote a safe — but challenging — learning environment.

“How do we connect the world to the college of ISU, which is kind of a little bit of a bubble?” Paul Bruski, interim department chair of graphic design, asked. “How do we make sure those things cross? Of course, there’s already that challenge even more so now. How do we build a better community right now?”

The final breakout group explored critique in the College of Design. The importance of engaging in critique was discussed, and it was explained that questioning critique would lead to a better understanding of perspectives in the College of Design. Being open to others’ ideas and communication were central ideas to the break out group.

Paige Hunter, senior in interior design said everyone in the College of Design gets a lot of critiquing.

“That’s how we get a lot of our feedback and a lot of the times our critiques, at least in my college, are like, ‘okay thank you but…’ We need to question peoples’ perspectives so that we can see where they’re coming from, so that we can learn from their ideas and that way we are more open to their criticism and other perspectives.”

Future events regarding #InclusiveByDesign are planned to take place on October 6th and November 5th from 6-8 PM. For more information about the #InclusiveByDesign meetings and other resources regarding equality on campus, visit the website with more information here.