Ethical and Equitable Design Outcomes

Lisa Mercer, Associate Professor of Graphic Design and Design for Responsible Innovation in the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Wednesday, April 3rd, 2024, 5:30 PM EST
via YouTube Live

Co-hosted by Associate Professor Clarissa Ceglio, and Digital Media and Design Students Kennedy Evans, Haydn Kerr and Melina Sandel

The design research process has the potential to create positive social change when working collaboratively to solve complex social issues. However, the design research process does not, by default, ensure the development of ethical and equitable design outcomes that benefit the groups they were intended to benefit and often reinforce the status quo. Designers have the agency to dismantle biased and myopically informed approaches through a critical and rigorous examination of the socio-cultural, socio-political, and socio-economical informed assumptions and values that may guide the enactment of any given collaborative design process. As designers strive to collaborate, they must engage with various stakeholders to develop, recalibrate, and implement constructive ways to pause and constructively disrupt the design research process to develop ethical and equitable design outcomes.

About the Speaker:

Lisa Elzey Mercer (she/her/hers) is a designer, educator, and researcher. Her interests are in developing and executing design interventions that fuel and sustain responsible design for social impact. The developed frameworks and tools are intended to create a space for conversation and knowledge exchange where participants can collaborate in creating new ideas and solutions. This type of methodology is evidenced in her current projects focused on the topics of human trafficking, incarceration, race, and racism. Elzey Mercer is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design and Design for Responsible Innovation in the School of Art and Design, College of Fine and Applied Arts (FAA), at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The College of Fine and Applied Arts awarded Elzey Mercer with the Excellence in Research for the 2020-21 academic year. Elzey Mercer has presented at national and international conferences including, AIGA (The American Institute of Graphic Arts Design Educators Community Conference), CUMULUS Association (International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media), European Academy of Design (EAD), Design + Diversity Conference. She currently serves as a National Steering Committee Member on the AIGA DEC (The American Institute of Graphic Arts Design Educators Community). Elzey Mercer holds a BFA in Visual Communication and Design from Purdue University and a Master of Design Research from the University of North Texas. She worked in the industry for 15 years and for five years was the owner of Mercer Studio, in Denver, Colorado. Her roles included project management, interaction design, mobile application development, and design research.

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