Articles by Lesley-Ann Noel

headshot of author Lesley Ann NoelDr. Noel is a Trinidadian design educator and Dean of Design at OCAD University. She has created several design tools for critical reflection, such as The Designer’s Critical Alphabet and the Positionality Wheel. Prior to OCAD-U, she taught at North Carolina State University, Tulane University, Stanford University, and the University of the West Indies.

Trauma-Informed Design: Leveraging Usability Heuristics on a Social Services Website

Abstract Trauma-informed design and technology have been an important topic of discussion in the last 5 years in user experience. However, little exists to offer practical direction for practitioners applying trauma-informed approaches to websites, apps, and other digital tools. This paper shares an example of applying trauma-informed (TI) principles to a social service agency website […] [Read More]

Invited Essay: Learning to Recognize Exclusion

Who do we exclude unintentionally or intentionally in the work that we do as designers and researchers? To be good at what we do as UX practitioners, we need to be mindful and recognize the differences around us and accommodate solutions with a positive and inclusive outcome. How can we train ourselves to see exclusion […] [Read More]