Can we move forward and blur the lines of gender divide in design?

Written by Keynes Yeo, Co-founder of Greydient Lab.

I was fortunate to travel, albeit for work-related purposes, in a near-dystopian world where travelling came to an almost stand-still amidst the pandemic late last year. But, alas, I managed to squeeze in some shopping at Siam Centre when I noticed something subtle yet peculiar. It didn't matter what gender the patrons were in a particular shop; whatever clothes they liked, they just took them off the rack. Never mind a man holding a dress or skirt, no one bat their eyelid, nobody cared.?

It would come as no surprise for some. After all, Thailand has long been a long-standing champion in gender fluidity within their culture. However, it seemed like only once in my life, there were no defined boundaries, no differentiation within a shopping space — I liked it.

This observation has led me to question: Are we falling back in this technologically progressive world? As we move into a world of machine learning, it seems as though categorisation is the only mean for differentiation, as seen in one such incident.

A tech giant unveiled a machine-learning engine fitted with a webcam during a recent demo. The machine was "trained" to differentiate between the left and right hands. When presented with the visuals, it recognised the hands as either "100% right" or "100% left". However, when the presenter raised both hands, the AI responded with a "50% right, 50% left". While technically accurate, it assigned the values as mutually exclusive: Even though on their own, they are seen as unique identifiers and may not be combined.

Rather than attempting to understand new data, the computer's response assimilated the hands into the closest binary it knew when they encountered something they could not understand. It is not out of the ordinary, though, because humans programmed it to do so. In contrast, as different as we are from AIs, we still categorise gender as '100% male' or '100% female'.

A female voice is generally preferred for assistive tasks, while the male voice is for commanding ones. Herein lies Q voice (https://www.genderlessvoice.com/), whose goal is to break this mindset by producing a genderless voice assistant who can generate a gender-neutral voice – a range between a neutral 145 to 175 hertz as defined by audio researchers. By successfully reaching this feat, it would reflect our world's diversity and reduce gender bias.

In the context of design

Design is a direct manifestation of the current context surrounding creative inspiration. In my opinion, I believe that designers can create an impact by integrating fluidity into designs. Drawing inspiration and redefining the frameworks to assimilate these trends into the business world and society for a prosperous company asset-building would be beneficial.

Avoidance of gender colour stereotypes and association

A big part of the gender-neutral style is our mental model to stereotype gender styles and colours – pink for girls and blue for boys. Consider gender-neutral colours, which are typically muted and minimalistic.

Typography

Fonts tend to be easily associated with gender due to their stylistic effect. Traditionally, thin, stylised and cursive fonts tend to be associated with the female gender. Whilst fonts that use geometric, sharp, straight lines with definite edges are considered more masculine and for the male.?

Although there hasn’t been a significant development regarding gender-neutral fonts, some like Roboto, Helvetica and Garamondare are labelled as “classical” and are typically not associated with any genders. Helvetica is possibly the most popular gender-neutral typeface, one which Greydient Lab is also using. Despite its neutrality, variations of Helvetica can still connotate gender, with something as simple as its different line weights.

Semiotics in Icons and Symbols

When designing icons, much like typography, smooth, curved line icons are usually targeted toward a feminine audience. On the other hand, straight, sharp edges are used to appeal to a male audience. We already know that colour impacts the perception of gender; this logic also applies to icons.

Gender-neutral style icons tend to have an outline in one colour or gradient instead of being fully coloured. The chosen colour is usually a neutral or accent colour and not associated with any gender. This detail, although tiny, has a significant impact, but we tend to overlook it since it has become almost second nature to us.

To a more inclusive future

Honouring gender diversity doesn't mean making everything gender-neutral. At Greydient Lab, we aim to cultivate more creativity, imagination, and consideration in our practice. We do not believe in forcing gender fluidity by eliminating the concept of gender altogether but rather in being constantly mindful when designing.?

One example is eliminating the need to ask for gender –?do we even need that information? If so, what purpose does it serve? When creating a user profile, we often ask for gender data despite it having little or almost no value.

What are your thoughts on gender-neutrality design? Where do you see this trend delving into, and how we've defined a gender-neutral design? Join our discussion; we'd love to hear your opinion!