Inclusive Design

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Towards more culturally inclusive communication design practices: exploring creative participation between non-Indigenous and Indigenous people in Australia 

Nicola St John  

Swinburne University of Technology, Australia 

contact@nicolastjohn.co

Keywords: communication design; inclusive design; Transformative Participatory Action; indigenous

Abstract

Currently, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander narratives and participation within communication design practices in Australia are scarce. The Australian communication design industry, currently reinforcing Eurocentric practices, needs to develop a better understanding of the social and cultural dimensions of design and to provide more inclusive practices for designers from underrepresented or marginalised groups. Through case study analysis, this paper explores and discusses a more inclusive way of working with Indigenous people and content within communication design. It draws from and applies principals of Transformative Participatory Action research to communication design practice – a more inclusive model for Indigenous creative practice within Australia. This approach moves away from co-design and participatory design models to focus more on participatory action, active engagement and empowering Indigenous communities through design. 

This paper is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence.

download the paper (PDF)

Cite this paper: St John, N. (2016). Towards more culturally inclusive communication design practices: exploring creative participation between non-Indigenous and Indigenous people in Australia. Proceedings of DRS 2016, Design Research Society 50th Anniversary Conference. Brighton, UK, 27–30 June 2016.

This paper will be presented at DRS2016, find it in the conference programme


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