Writes on tech, design, and equity. For writing assignments, email at hi.laurencza@gmail.com.
Designers Have a Seat At the Table. Now, What Should They Do With It?
Fast Company, March 2023
Amid layoffs, burnout, and the rise of AI, designers are questioning how to build a more inclusive and sustainable future for themselves and each other.
Read More︎︎︎
Read More︎︎︎
The Potential, the Pitfalls, and the Long Fight for Accessible Technology: An Interview with Prasanna Venkatesh
Tech Without Losing Your Soul Newsletter, Oct 2022
LC: How do you define accessibility, and what does it mean to engage in accessibility as a critical practice in the way we shape technology?
PV: Accessibility, to me, doesn’t just conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines only; it means I am able to use the same product or service in a different way compared to abled folks. Accessibility allows people with limited capabilities to be able to operate independently to some extent. At its root, it is a practical approach to designing facilities or workflows that ensures equitable access to anyone trying to use them.
Read More︎︎︎
PV: Accessibility, to me, doesn’t just conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines only; it means I am able to use the same product or service in a different way compared to abled folks. Accessibility allows people with limited capabilities to be able to operate independently to some extent. At its root, it is a practical approach to designing facilities or workflows that ensures equitable access to anyone trying to use them.
Read More︎︎︎
How Deindustrialization Shaped My Working-Class Family
In These Times, March 2022
Dad stood at the edge of the shore, witnessing the ocean for the first time, at 40. His green eyes peered into the horizon, unstirred by the waves that crashed into his bare feet, liberated from the weight of his factory boots.
Read More︎︎︎
Read More︎︎︎
On Identity, Solidarity, & Parenting in Late Capitalism: An Interview with Claire Stapleton
Tech Without Losing Your Soul Newsletter, Feb 2023
LC: Do you think it’s possible to successfully detach our identity from our work?
CS: I don't know if people can fully divorce their identity from work, but there are people operating from a sense of groundedness in what their skills are and what they want to contribute to the world. And when you have that groundedness, you can deploy that in many different contexts and environments. And then you can also assess and gut check environments in a more honest and authentic way. I really do feel like a lot of this is about developing more of a sense of self.
Read More︎︎︎
CS: I don't know if people can fully divorce their identity from work, but there are people operating from a sense of groundedness in what their skills are and what they want to contribute to the world. And when you have that groundedness, you can deploy that in many different contexts and environments. And then you can also assess and gut check environments in a more honest and authentic way. I really do feel like a lot of this is about developing more of a sense of self.
Read More︎︎︎
Advocating for People in a Profit-Driven World
dscout People Nerds, Aug 2021
After working as a designer for the last ten years, from startups to big tech, I find myself wondering whether it’s possible to meaningfully and sustainably advocate for people in a capitalist society. I imagine that many of us will be wrestling with this question for the rest of our careers. But as we navigate structures that do not serve humanity or the planet, I’ve learned that small acts of support, resistance, and introspection, at a daily level, can move us towards a direction that values people before profits.
Read More︎︎︎
Read More︎︎︎
There’s a Crack in the Pavement
UX Collective, June 2021
Live Reading, Unmuted Stories
The day I met Massimo Vignelli I was a bundle of nerves. It was Spring 2011, my first time in New York City, and my mind buzzed from all the stimulation around me–the blaring sound of the taxi horns, the stench of pizza and garbage hitting my face, the hypnosis of the jumbo screens in Times Square. I scurried my feet throughout the city, eventually arriving at the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where Vignelli lived.
Read More︎︎︎
Watch the live reading︎︎︎
Read More︎︎︎
Watch the live reading︎︎︎