Critical and Emancipatory Design Thinking with Lesley-Ann Noel — DT101 E57

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dr. Lesley-Ann Noel is the Associate Director for Design Thinking for Social Impact and a professor of practice at Tulane University, and an Afro-Caribbean designer who focuses on critical emancipatory design thinking. We talk about power issues and design, participatory design, working with community partners, teaching design, thinking in ways that help students reflect on difference, and the Designer's Critical Alphabet.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> <p><strong>Show Summary</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Lesley’s passion for design started in middle school, and by the time she graduated from high school, she was looking for a place to continue her design studies. She ended up in Brazil, where she spent a year studying graphic design and five years in industrial design before returning to Trinidad, where she worked as a design consultant and taught at the University of the West Indies.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After coming to the U.S. to get her Ph.D. at North Carolina State University, she spent a year teaching at Stanford’s d.School before moving on to her current position at Tulane University.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Lesley talks about the importance of positionality and identity in her work, and how her classes and coursework have changed in response to the events of 2020, including the current COVID-19 health crisis. We learn how and why Lesley created the Designer’s Critical Alphabet, and what she hopes the cards will do for people who use them.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> <p><strong>Listen in to learn more about:</strong></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">How power and identity influence design</span></li> <li style="font-weight