Community workshops and design crits
- James Yoon
- Justin Obara
- Alexey Novak
Overview
On Tuesdays 2:00 PM ET, the inclusive design community gathers together to learn and discuss various topics in the form of a workshop or a design critique.
Workshops provide the inclusive design community an opportunity for engaging with a broader community to spur our creative processes with topics that may align with our projects, be lateral with, or challenge our ideas by providing alternative perspectives. It also provides the opportunity to make connections with the work of those in the broader community.
Design critique (or more informally a "crit") is an opportunity for us to come together as a small group and examine and discuss a creative artifact - a design wireframe, a persona, a newly-implemented UI or software component, etc. These design crits are informal, constructive, specific, and respectful. It's a forum where anyone from the community can bring their designs and receive feedback. For more information, refer to "Design Crits - Additional Information" below.
Lightning Talks are a quick/short format discussions/presentations, generally geared towards a professional development topic. They are intended to be 15 to 30 min in length, but may stretch longer from time-to-time; however, if they require more time a Workshop or Design Crit may be a better avenue. The lightning talks typically take place after our standup meetings on Wednesdays.
Note about dates and times: In order to be flexible, occasionally the date and times of the meetings will change. Please note these changes in the Upcoming schedule below.
To join the conversation please join us remotely at this Zoom web conference room.
In-person meetings have been suspended due to closures related to COVID-19.
Creative Commons and Community Conduct
Audio and video recordings, notes, and artifacts taken during community workshops and design crits are done under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please let us know if you have any licensing needs or requirements.
Community workshops and design crits follow the Fluid and Inclusive Design Community Code of Conduct. Attendees of these meetings are expected to understand and respect the guidance in the Code of Conduct.
Check out the Meetings page for more reoccurring events.
Check out the Collaborate page for more ways to get involved!
Upcoming
Topic | Meeting format | Facilitator/Presenter | Date | Time | Links / Notes | Coordinator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
TBD | Community Workshop | Emerson Maxwell | Jul 8, 2025? | 2 - 3pm ET |
| @Justin Obara @Daniel Cho |
From Fragments to Fractals: Peer-Led AI, Storytelling, and Inclusive Mental Health Futures | Community Workshop | Tracy Windsor | Jul 15, 2025 | 2 - 3pm ET | From Fragments to Fractals (FFtF) is a participatory research and storytelling project that gathers, traces, and synthesizes diverse knowledge fragments related to mental health broadly, and a particular focus on psychosis, and peer support—from training manuals to academic articles to lived experience reflections in recorded interviews, focus groups, etc. Will likely use AI for analysis, which the tools for REFRACT AI will be trained on. The project centers liberatory ethics, values consent and citation, and aims to build an open-source repository that honors grassroots wisdom alongside academic knowledge. While the initial phase focuses on psychosis-related materials, the platform is designed to grow and welcome content across mental health, social care, and community healing spaces. REFRACT AI is the digital constellation that will emerge from this repository: a peer-led, modular suite of tools that support narrative exploration, skills practice (e.g. DBT/CBT), decision-making, and ethical system navigation. These tools adapt to user role (peer supporter, clinician, etc.) and are grounded in inclusive, relational design practices. Will share the conceptual foundations of both projects and open up space for dialogue on:
| @Justin Obara @Daniel Cho |
TBD | Community Workshop | Niklas Frost | Sep 23, 2025 | 2 - 3pm ET |
| @Justin Obara @Daniel Cho |
TBD | Community Workshop | Liz Lane | TBD | 2 - 3pm ET | @Justin Obara |
Past
Workshops from previous years can be seen on the Previous Community Workshop and Design Crit Topics page. Video recordings may not have captions. If you would like to contribute to captioning any of the videos, please reach out to us through the fluid-work mailing list.
Topic | Format | Facilitator | Date | Time | Links / Notes | Coordinator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Suggested Future topics
Topic | Facilitator |
|---|---|
Agile development: planning | Michelle |
Teacher to talk about education plans (EP) | Guest? |
Students with learning disabilities to talk about their experiences | Guest? |
People working with students on mindfulness and mental health | Guest? |
Talk to people who teach children to program | Lighthouse Labs? |
Someone from able gamers to talk about how people with various disabilities interact with games | Guest? |
People working with young adults with autism | Guest? |
Rose? How people engage in social connections and relationships | Guest? |
Empathy Toy | |
Engage with OCAD students to talk about their projects and/or areas of study. ( MDes and others) | Guest? |
Music Therapy | Theresa |
Someone who has developed software for older adults | Guest? |
Someone who works with brain sensing tech | Muse? |
Someone to talk about entrepreneurship and marketing ( how to reach people to use our software and services e.g. P4A, Outside-in, hack-a-thons, etc.) | Guest? |
Latest A11y models and principles to follow, and language to use ( e.g. things that the MDes students are taught ) | Jutta? |
Accessibility in the Toronto Public Library | Guest? |
Case Studies of User Creativity in Computing (Monthly)
| |
Skills Development workshops (Monthly?) Below are some examples of topics that could be covered.
|
Offsite Visit: Location | Topic | Contact |
|---|---|---|
Yura Zenevich | ||
Underground Hack Lab? | ||
IDI Partners (e.g. UofT, TMU, etc) | ||
Teaching children to program |
Challenges / Hack Session / Workshop | Facilitator |
|---|---|
Design Crits - Additional Information
A critique (or more informally a "crit") is an opportunity for us to come together as a small group and examine and discuss a creative artifact - a design wireframe, a persona, a newly-implemented UI or software component, etc.
These design crits are informal, constructive, specific, and respectful. It's a forum where anyone from the community can bring their designs and receive feedback.
The idea is to focus on tangibles, not on abstract plans:
What have we designed or built?
why is it like this, what are its strengths, and how can we make it better?
Since these meetings are participant driven, there will be occasions when the crit will not meet. Meetings will be announced in the schedule above, and to the relevant mailing lists (i.e. inclusive design community list, and fluid-work).
Why do Critiques?
Techniques like UX Walkthroughs, Inclusive Design Mapping Tool ("Petals & Flowers"), or User States and Contexts will help us concretely assess and discuss an artifact from different perspectives. It's based on the idea that creative work gets stronger when it is discussed amongst peers and diverse ideas are considered.
Crits help us to:
amplify the strengths of a design
suggest alternative trajectories
reflect on our work through the lenses of different users
identify areas of confusion
focus on tangible artifacts, not just abstract ideas or goals
Design crits are intentionally informal and casual
We try to keep design crits very informal and casual on purpose. This makes it easier for participants to share designs (requiring less time preparing formal presentations), and opens up more time for organic conversations. A formal presentation of your project or design is not required, and we encourage a more conversational approach.
Presenting at Design Crits
Design crits are a great opportunity to discuss designs, refine ideas, ask questions, and get feedback. To get the most out of a design crit:
Come prepared with specific design issues to share - this will help focus the discussion on the topics that will help you.
Try not cover too much or expect to have every question addressed.
Design crits are intended to be 1 hour in length to help keep the discussion productive and specific.
If needed, another design crit can be scheduled to continue the discussion, or you can take advantage of the Inclusive Design Community mailing list to reach a broader audience.