Challenging white by default

Recently I prepared a prototype to test a photo upload journey. This was part of a medical consultation flow for eczema, where the user could upload a photo of the affected areas.

Due to not being able to test in a usability lab with a test device where users could take a photo themselves. I decided to fake the journey, by using images of the device screen to simulate someone taking a photo. I’d decided not to use a real file upload as this would open the user’s photo gallery and I wasn’t sure if users would be comfortable about this.

But when it came to the lab, I realised that I’d chosen images of white arms as part of my faked file upload journey. Most of the participants on the day were not white.

When I prepared the journey, I hadn’t given this a second thought. I felt ashamed that I’d put these images in front of users who would not relate to them. And that it had never occurred to me before the testing.

So I want to do better. To be more inclusive. To check myself constantly to spot things sooner, and not let time pressures get in the way of that. To hold myself accountable, but also hold others accountable to challenge white by default.