IBM.org

Brief

The extent of the brief was a two sentence Slack message. From there, the problem, concept, visual language, were largely up to me to define, champion, design and build.

Background

IBM.org had previously published activity kits focused on technology topics. That existing paradigm felt like a natural fit for the brief: an interactive, shareable format that could live on IBM.org and be brought into the classroom. This was the first to take on a social issue.

Designed as a classroom tool, the kit gave educators a way to open conversations about systemic racism with their students. The central metaphor: life is a carnival game, and for some people it's rigged.

Concept

That metaphor became a digital Chutes and Ladders. Six systems, each containing a board users could explore. Roll the dice and land on a chute, and you'd encounter a systemic pitfall. Land on a ladder, and you'd find a reason for hope. Each roll earned a sticker users could share on social media via custom Open Graph images.

The six systems (education, housing, healthcare, criminal justice, employment, and wealth) were chosen to reflect the most pervasive structural barriers to equity.

Every chute and ladder was grounded in real data. The content was researched and cited, ensuring the learning experience was credible and substantive rather than surface-level.

The project was also a first for IBM: rather than abstracting skin color away in product illustrations, it was embraced directly.

Each roll of the dice earned users a sticker they could post to social media. The stickers were generated as custom Open Graph images, pulling in the user's name and the system they had just explored.

Experience