A structured vocabulary of concepts, values, practices and roles that define my expertise
FOUNDATIONAL VALUES & PRINCIPLES
Empathy-Based Design
Design practice that begins with deep emotional understanding of lived experiences — especially marginalized or low-literate communities.
Inclusion
Creating conditions where everyone — regardless of literacy level, background or ability — can access, use and influence design outcomes.
Equity
Recognizing systemic disadvantages (e.g., literacy barriers) and designing to reduce, not reproduce them.
Dignity-Centred Practice
Ensuring that people who struggle with reading/writing are approached with respect, without stigma or deficit framing.
Accessibility (Broad Spectrum)
Designing across cognitive, social, linguistic and cultural differences — not just physical or digital accessibility.
Reflexivity
Continually examining my own position, privilege, assumptions and biases as a designer-researcher.
Ethical Sensitivity
Awareness of power dynamics and ethical tensions in design encounters, especially with vulnerable groups.
Social Justice by Design
Using design as an instrument to challenge inequality and activate change.
Care & Stewardship
Design as ongoing support, accompaniment and responsibility — not a one-off intervention.
DESIGN RESEARCH APPROACHES
Participatory Design
Collaborative design where participants — including low-literate people — contribute as co-creators.
Co-Creation
Hands-on making sessions with communities to develop ideas, visuals or prototypes together.
Co-Learning
Mutual knowledge exchange: you learn from the community; they learn from the process.
Situated Research
Design research grounded in specific neighbourhoods (like Hillevliet), cultures and social realities.
Community-Embedded Practice
Long-term involvement in communities instead of “parachuting in” for short projects.
Action Research
Research through doing — testing interventions, learning from the results, adapting.
Experimental Prototyping
Rapid creation of unconventional artefacts (puzzles, games, wordless forms) to surface insights.
Narrative Inquiry
Using stories, diaries, lived experiences and interviews to understand social impact.
Practice-Based Research
Generating knowledge through design practice rather than detached theory.
Transformative Research
Aiming to shift systems, relationships and awareness — not just produce findings.
VISUAL & MULTIMODAL COMMUNICATION
Visual Language
A structured set of images, symbols and metaphors used to communicate without text.
Visual Cues
Small, intuitive symbols or markers that support understanding of text-heavy content.
Symbolic Representation
Replacing text with universally recognizable symbols.
Iconography
Developing consistent icons rooted in cultural and contextual meaning.
Wordless Recipes / Wordless Instructions
Step-by-step instructions using only images — a signature output in my research.
Multimodal Literacy
Understanding and designing for literacy that goes beyond reading: visual, spatial, gestural, auditory.
Cognitive Offloading
Using visuals to ease mental load, enabling understanding without linguistic effort.
Visual Empathy Tools
Design elements that allow literate people to experience what illiteracy feels like.
Accessible Interface Design
Designing forms, websites, services and interactions that can be understood visually.
Diagrammatic Storytelling
Communicating processes or experiences through diagrams rather than paragraphs.
4. SOCIAL & CIVIC CONTEXTS
Literacy-Based Exclusion
Systemic exclusion created by bureaucratic, digital or social systems that assume literacy.
Administrative Overload
The cognitive and emotional burden caused by official forms, letters and digital portals.
Everyday Literacy Practices
The informal ways people navigate understanding without formal reading/writing skills.
Trust-Building
Essential relational work when collaborating with communities who may distrust institutions.
Hidden Populations
Groups whose struggles (e.g., low literacy) are often invisible due to shame or stigma.
Stigma Reduction
Designing in ways that normalize and humanize low literacy rather than pathologizing it.
Social Navigation
How people with low literacy move through systems and institutions.
Empowerment
Supporting people to make independent choices, complete tasks and advocate for themselves.
Bureaucratic Barriers
Obstacles created by complex processes or language used by government or institutions.
Everyday Agency
The small acts of self-determination made possible through accessible design.
DESIGN ARTEFACTS & METHODS
Serious Games
Games designed to evoke empathy, simulate exclusion, or teach others about low literacy.
Experience Probes
Tools that let participants test and react to designed experiences.
Empathy Simulations
Activities (like the puzzle-form experiment) that help literate people feel the friction of illiteracy.
Reflective Journeys
Processes where participants reflect on their assumptions, biases or blind spots.
Living Atlas
My core methodology: a dynamic and evolving map of experiments, insights, voices and reflections.
Embodied Making
Using hands, materials and physical activities to elicit insights that talking alone cannot achieve.
Story-Driven Artifacts
Physical or digital objects that tell the stories of lived experiences.
Prototyping for Dignity
Creating prototypes that do not shame or diminish participants.
Material Storytelling
Letting materials (cards, icons, objects) carry meaning without relying on text.
Inclusive Co-Making Kits
Material sets that allow non-literate participants to contribute equivalently.
ROLES & IDENTITIES IN MY PRACTICE
Designer–Researcher
Operating at the intersection of making and knowledge generation.
Social Innovator
Creating new ways to address entrenched societal problems.
Visual Translator
Transforming complex or text-heavy concepts into accessible visual forms.
Community Ally
Standing alongside communities rather than above them.
Facilitator
Guiding design sessions so all voices can participate equally.
Systems Observer
Identifying how institutions, norms and values shape exclusion.
Bridge Builder
Connecting literate and non-literate people, tech and society, designers and communities.
Empathy Activator
Creating conditions where others can feel what exclusion feels like.
Reflective Practitioner
Using reflection as a key tool for growth and insight.
Advocate
Amplifying the voices of people often unheard in societal decision-making.