Responsible Technology Design Intensive
An Interdisciplinary Program in Inclusive Innovation
How might we design new technologies to center consent, legibility, transparency, and trust?
In this 8-week interdisciplinary online intensive program, award-winning critical designer, researcher, and artist Caroline Sinders will lead students in exploring human rights-centered design. Throughout the course, students will ideate and design technology-mediated products with these concepts and principles in mind and examine the use of UX and design tools in activism.
This program is designed for tech industry workers who are interested in developing their fluency in human rights, consent, transparency, and trust to foster communal agency. Through lectures, reading, hands-on group exercises, and a capstone project, students will learn to apply various design movements like design justice and emancipatory design, and understand the practical tradeoffs for each. Additionally, students will learn how to employ design tools such as the Secure UX Checklist and hear from prominent human rights activists to explore ways we can design with (rather than for) the communities we serve.
Enrollment Opens Spring 2026!
Program Features
- Learn how to engage with equitable design practices, ethical design movements, and web activism at work and in the broader community
- Apply existing skills and course learnings to build on the work of activists and non-profit organizations
- Gain experience in ethical UX design, digital ethnography, and case studies
- Work on a personalized capstone project that integrates ethical design principles and practices into their work
- Experience 24 hours of online classroom instruction
- Join the Gray Area alumni network of over 300 peers and professionals
- Creative and professional development
Outputs
Outputs from this course might include:
- Design artifacts
- White papers
- Data investigation / visualization
- Community-oriented project proposal
- Ethical alternatives to existing products
Course Logistics
Dates: Coming Spring 2026
Times: TBD
Cost:
Live Access – $1,200 for an eight-week course.
Live Access provides full access to the Responsible Technology Design Intensive. We can offer a payment plan with 3 monthly installments of $400 for the live class—please email [email protected] to set one up. We also offer scholarships, prioritized by need.
Audit Access – $600 Audit Access is access to the Responsible Technology Design Intensive as view / listen only. This is ideal for those in time zones that do not agree with that of the class, and is also a lower-cost option.
Experience Level: Basic UX design, or human-centered design knowledge recommended.
Course Access
All sessions are held online via Zoom. Unlimited access to the full class recording is available to all enrolled students. Whether you couldn’t make it to class or want to refresh on some of the concepts, Gray Area will provide all enrolled students with a direct link.
- Apply for a scholarship here
- Email [email protected] if you want to set up a 3-month payment plan of $400 installments
- Class size capped at 25 learners
Please email [email protected] with any questions.
Syllabus
Week 1
An overview of the course with a focus on criticism and ethics in tech
This class will focus on criticism and ethics in tech, along with a brief overview of other equity-based design methodologies. We will also unpack: what is ethics, why does it matter to technology and when did it start to become popular and why?
Week 2
More equity-based methodologies
This class would also go into STS (science and technology studies), other justice focused technology research movements, civil society and NGOs, mutual aid groups, and different community activist groups that are fighting technology. This class will establish what are other disciplines that affect design, particularly with ethical design (CSOs, NGOs, community organizations, activism, …)
Week 3
The dawn of the web, web/tech activism, web harassment, and web harm
This class looks at early forms of the web, web/tech activism, web harassment, and web harm. We would talk about: the Arab Spring, Anonymous (good / bad examples), a rape in cyberspace, ECHO NY, and others.
Week 4
Intro to privacy & security, privacy by design, and how and why privacy matters for ethical design
Introduction to privacy and security, privacy by design, and how and why privacy matters for ethical design. This class will cover a lot of bases to prepare for our guest lecture’s class.
We will also look at different kinds of privacy tools, products, and apps and think about how we would augment or change different apps to be more privacy focused.
Week 5
Speculative design interventions, creative technology + art for human rights, in-class project
This week will focus on speculative design interventions and how creative technology and art can provide new spaces of exploration for human rights. We will cover work by Forensic Architecture, Adam Harvey, Mimi Onuoha, Joana Moll, Cooking Sections and concepts like critical design, transition design, and Arte Útil.
Week 6
Workshopping final project proposals: bringing together justice, privacy, security, and human rights
This week will also kick off the beginning of their final projects. This is also a class specifically focusing on bringing together all of our concepts—justice, privacy, security, and human rights, together. It will also highlight participatory design, and how and why that matters for ethical design.
Week 7
1-on-1 meetings with students or group meetings
Break for Thanksgiving Weekend – November 29
Week 8
Class presentations
Scholarships
We award a limited number of scholarships based on available capacity and a review process overseen by the Gray Area team to prioritize need, diversity, equity, and inclusion. This approach makes sure everyone who is passionate and curious can join this course and our other educational offerings.
