UX Designers Turn Emotion to Action
A dozen user experience designers (the people who make products and services easy to use) will head to Kigali, Rwanda next month to help Aegis Trust, a nonprofit focused on genocide, harness the emotions someone feels after seeing a memorial or museum focused on genocide. The team will interview people affiliated with the Rwandan genocide, which happened exactly 20 years ago. UX for Good founders Jason Ulaszek, here with co-founder Jeff Leitner, says the event could result in a piece of technology or ideas for a program focused on turning emotion into action. The group just launched a Kickstarter to raise money for next month’s event.
This will be the fourth UX for Good event, where UX designers use their skills to tackle a problem laid out by a nonprofit or international NGO. Events have been staged in Chicago, New Orleans, and Vancouver, tackling issues like urban violence, the music economy, and advancing social and emotional learning in the classroom. A hackathon last year for the Dalai Lama Center resulted in a digital extension of their social and emotional learning curriculum for teachers and parents called the Heart Shaped Toolbox. Jason says UXforGood is also planning some virtual events later this year to get more designers involved in helping to scale impact from the June event.
