Anti-Black Racism in UX Design

Creating an inclusive UX design process that reduces anti-Black racism and improves Black people’s user experience

  • Format

    Bachelor Thesis

  • Skills

    Quantitative Research | Inclusive Design | Critical Race Theory

  • Timeframe

    September 2024 - January 2025

01. Problem Statement: Why Isn’t UX Inclusive for Everyone?

Many digital products are not designed to be inclusive, particularly for Black users. The lack of diversity in UX design processes and bias in AI-powered systems often lead to technologies that do not adequately serve Black users.

➡ Examples:

  • Facial recognition systems misidentify Black people more frequently.

  • Automatic soap dispensers fail to detect darker skin tones.

  • Search engines and recommendation algorithms prioritize white-centered results, e.g., a search for "professional hairstyles" primarily displays white hairstyles.

02. Research Goals

  1. Understand how Black users experience UX systems.

  2. Identify racist UX patterns and exclusion mechanisms.

  3. Develop practical recommendations & a workshop concept for UX teams.

„Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.“

– James Baldwin

03. Research Methodology: How I Approached the Problem

To explore racial bias in UX design, I combined qualitative research methods with a critical UX lens. My approach followed four key phases:

1️⃣ Literature & Competitive Analysis

  • Reviewed prior research on racial bias in UX & HCI.

  • Identified best practices for inclusive design.

2️⃣ Semi-Structured Expert Interviews

  • Sourced UX experts through LinkedIn

  • Conducted 4 one-on-one interviews (45-60 min via Microsoft Teams) with UX designers & researchers (to understand industry bias).

  • Key Topics Explored:

    • Frustrations & barriers in integrating diversity in design processes.

    • How UX decisions reinforce exclusion.

    • What inclusivity in UX should look like.

  • Recording & transcription: Analyzed with a thematic coding approach.

3️⃣ Focus Group with Black Users

  • Hosted a 90-minute focus group with 6 Black participants.

  • Explored how Black users experience exclusion in digital spaces.

  • Co-developed solutions for the UX design process.

4️⃣ Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006)

  • Coded qualitative data to identify recurring themes of exclusion.

  • Mapped pain points → UX solutions into a structured framework.

📌 Outcome: Built a dataset of common exclusion patterns in UX design and developed a set of actionable recommendations.

04. Key Findings: What I discovered

💡 1. UX Design Is Not Neutral – It Reinforces Systemic Bias.

  • UX design often reflects societal biases, unintentionally favoring white users.

  • Black users report frequent exclusionary experiences in digital products.

💡 2. Lack of Awareness and Representation Leads to Exclusionary UX.

  • UX teams often fail to consider Black perspectives in the design process.

  • A lack of diverse test groups results in flawed product assumptions.

💡 3. Diversity is Key.

  • Diverse UX testing is crucial to develop inclusive solutions.

  • Diverse UX teams open the door for more diverse perspectives.

05. Solutions: Actionable Recommendations for Inclusive UX Design

Based on the literatuire review, the expert interviews and the focus group, I defined following recommendations for an UX design process that reduces anti-Black racism:

06. Impact & Learnings: How This Research Improves UX

  • Perspective Shift: UX design isn’t just about usability—it’s about equity & inclusion.

  • Data-Driven UX Optimization: My research led to practical solutions for inclusive design.

  • Workshop Concept: I developed a training program for UX teams to apply anti-racist principles.

  • James Baldwin: If you don’t at least try to improve something, then it won’t be improved.

Weiter

LIV