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Op-EdInclusive Design

Power of the Pluriverse

How principles of radical interdependence can be applied to UX design

By
Dimeji Onafuwa

  –   The estimated reading time is 8 min.

A painting of a person looking contemplatively out of a window. The individual is wearing a light yellow hoodie and a white headscarf. The background is a solid light blue color, enhancing the serene and reflective atmosphere of the scene.

An African proverb popularized by the late author Chinua Achebe goes, “Until lions have their own historian, the story of the hunt will glorify the hunter.” — We are the lions’ historians when we listen to the often ignored and amplify the narratives of the often excluded. These narratives form the threads of our collective journey, causing us to seek new ways to live together because one perspective is never enough to understand the full story.

Product teams often express a desire to craft products that serve human needs. But given that hundreds of parallel worlds and realities exist across this planet we call home, meeting those needs means considering multiple perspectives, — something few design tools or tenets currently take into consideration. We must expand our thinking, find new ways to engage with our world, and celebrate the rights of others to coexist in a world where many worlds fit.

Rooted in this charge is the idea — and power — of the pluriverse. Greta Gaard, a professor and author of Critical Ecofeminism, defines the pluriverse as “a world in which diverse hopes can be sown, multiple opportunities can be cultivated, and a plurality of meaningful lives can be achieved by the richly different and caring people we are.”

To help put that philosophy into practice, I have laid out a set of principles which will enable UX researchers and product makers to adopt a pluriversal lens. These principles emerged from my academic research and continue to evolve through collaborative work with design students, UX designers, and most recently peers at Microsoft XC Research.

Whose futures are we omitting?

Before exploring the principles themselves, let’s consider what’s at stake. Historically, product design has focused on white, Western perspectives rather than designing in a way that recognizes, celebrates, and amplifies a multiplicity of lived experiences. The reasons for this vary — from colonial legacies, time, budget constraints, to lack of representation. What is consistent is the risk we run of carelessly proposing a very narrow view of the future that stifles innovation and increases inequity.

In today’s market, we see this often with the vast majority of software being geared toward users with stable internet access. This excludes people on the other side of the digital divide — individuals requiring more offline experiences, families sharing a single device, or communities relying on mobile-first experiences. For many people, it comes down to what they can afford or what is available to purchase.

Painting of a young boy with curly hair, wearing a blue jacket and black pants with white stripes, holding a yellow and white globe. The background is a solid yellow, creating a vibrant contrast with the boy.
A little girl peers at the world as she embraces it, waiting to inherit what we leave behind.
A group of individuals stand together, some dressed in traditional vibrant attire. The central figure wears a decorated headdress and elaborate clothing with beads and patterns, holding a ceremonial object. The background features a deep red wall with indistinct writing.
Let’s tell the lions’ history.