Scope: How do we scope and frame design problems?

Problem framing refers to the operations of a design process, it can be interpreted as defining the severities of the problem, and analyzing the audiences to make it acceptable and inclusive.

Understanding the repetitions and patterns in past trends is always necessary, it allows us to observe the changes and reframe the whole outcome to a more sensible decision. As claimed by the Design Justice Network Principle 10: “Before seeking new design solutions, we look for what is already working at the community level. We honor and uplift traditional, indigenous, and local knowledge and practices.”

This reminds me of the newest update of Emoji 14.0, I can see that every update they make was considered gravely after sending it out to the public, they considered about skin tone options and included inclusive additions to cater to the LGBTQ+ community. Apple has taken a step to make its emoji more inclusive and less binary with the addition of a “gender-neutral” option for nearly every human emoji in its system (Leskin, 2019). According to Emojipedia, the 14.0 version added mixed skin tone support for “Handshake” with 15 different handshake combinations, and consistent gender options for pregnancy. In the 13.0 version, they included in the update are images that represent people with disabilities and interracial couples. a bearded lady, 200 different skin tone choices for interracial and gay couples with additional male, female, and gender-neutral options (Padgett, 2021).

The evolution of Emoji really inspired designers to scope and frame problems, their attention and attribution on the current trends, worldwide movements, and related communities were equitably distributed, every update was designed accordingly from the original basis, which we could refer to our future planning.

by Tina Hui