Trauma-informed Web Heuristics for Communication Designers

Abstract

The experience report reflects on our work developing trauma-informed (TI) web development heuristics in the context of a community of scholar-activist-practitioners called SEEN (Supporting Equity in Essential Needs). Our report introduces, defines, and situates TI heuristics we developed within communication design scholarship. Additionally, the report explains our process of both developing and working with the heuristics by sharing images of a web portal prototype meant to make basic needs resources more visible to students at a large R1 institution in the Midwest. Our report focuses on lessons learned and next steps for communication designers interested in adapting TI heuristics and approaches to their own work.