Gender Design

Throughout history, designers have participated in designing "femininity" and "masculinity" as two separate categories. As awareness of other genders has increased in recent years, design approaches that challenge this divide have emerged. We will look at the past, present, and future of design gender: We will see how design has created two genders throughout history, analyze the semantics of gendered designs and discuss gender bias, critically examine strategies for gender design such as inclusive design and neutral design, read and respond to gender design manifestos, and imagine a future for design beyond the binary. At the end of the course the student will be asked to write a short essay analyzing gender design.