Nov 05, 2022

Designing for Health from the Inside Out

Sara Wachter-Boettcher

About this video

Description

Workplace stress is at an all-time high. Depression and anxiety jumped by 25% globally during the pandemic. In every workplace Sara is engaged with, folks are struggling. But designers often sweep their issues under the rug. Other people have it worse. I shouldn't worry about myself right now, we tell ourselves. We just need to push through a little longer, this product launch is too important, we say to one another. But we can't design healthy, inclusive experiences if we're working in unhealthy ways ourselves. In this talk, we explore why that is, and what you can do about it.

We cover:
- Why understanding and processing your stress is essential to doing responsible design work—and how to get better at it.
- What you can do to develop a healthier relationship to your work—without letting go of the passion that brought you to the field.
- How we can build the community and solidarity needed to challenge design industry norms like perfectionism and overwork
- Why we all need to become more trauma-informed in our design work, our teams and our leadership approaches

Sara Wachter-Boettcher

Sara is dedicated to changing design and tech for good. She is the founder of Active Voice, a coaching and training company helping organizations build radical, courageous leadership practices. Her most recent book, Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech, was named one of the best tech books of the year by WIRED and one of the top business books of the year by Fast Company. Sara is also the co-author of Design for Real Life, a book about creating products and interfaces that are more inclusive and compassionate, and Content Everywhere, a book about creating flexible, mobile-ready content. Sara also runs Strong Feelings, the podcast for feminists at work and Collective Strength, a feminist leadership event series based in Philadelphia.