There is an equestrian club for kids in the UK & US called Pony Club. Similar to 4H but focused solely on equestrian sports, they have very, um, specific standards about care of horses and tack. Some of which are rooted in safety, some of which are rooted in history, and some of which are rooted in…I honestly don’t know. A common saying is “there is the right way, the wrong way, and the Pony Club way.”
It’s funny because it’s true.
This same concept applies so much to our work as designers and technologists. There are of course industry best practices, and popular research, as well as new trends. We should be aware of these. They absolutely can inform how we work.
There are also very clear wrong ways to do this work. There are plenty examples of unethical or simply clueless design and the massive chaos & harm they can cause. We should diligently fight against this type of thinking (or lack of thinking) infecting how we work. (And I truly believe the first question we should ask, on any project, is “who could this harm/which communities are we overlooking”).
But the reality is, our work is constrained and enriched primarily by the most direct context in which we work: our organization, our team, our projects, the customers we serve. Which means there are really very few absolute, universal truths about what good design work looks like. Regardless of the framework, or methodology, or process some big name or agency is trying to sell.
This is actually very liberating! Inform yourself about the “right” way, considering what you read & hear through the lens of your context. Care passionately and stay vigilant about the wrong way. Prioritize and amplify the voices of historically underrepresented community members, particularly those of BIPOC and LGBTQ communities. And then use all that information to experiment and figure out your way.
(based on a Twitter thread)
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