Private parts (Schaamstreken) is an Instagram series in which followers are stimulated to think about the role played by intimacy and sexuality in their lives. The series is aimed at young people aged 10 to 14 years and brings sex education into the online world as experienced by these young people. The Instagram series is about a group of friends and offers weekly insights into the lives of different characters within the group by means of an ‘Instagram takeover’. Every week there will be a new ‘schaam-streek’ : a mystery surrounding sexuality that followers can solve. Schaamstreken holds a mirror up to its followers, allowing us to make young people more aware of their sexual development and make it easier to talk about sexuality.
What was it like to participate in No Minor Thing?
“We enjoyed working on the No Minor Thing challenge. Designing for such a serious and urgent problem is always highly motivating. We tried new perspectives several times, shifting the emphasis of our objectives from one time to the next. Completely uprooting something and starting from scratch isn’t easy, but that’s why they call it a challenge!’
‘You need to be able to let go of the issue and listen to your intuition at the right moments. This requires a designer to make a decision; pick something worth trying and give it a go. This allows you to improve your understanding of the situation step by step and sharpen your design accordingly.’
While working on this project, what has caught you by surprise the most?
‘Getting connected to various experts throughout this design process proved very helpful. Designers and experts are there with the same intention: they want to improve or change something. But the very fact that everyone cares so much about the topic can sometimes get in the way of potential solutions. In a design process, it is important to try things out. We found that it is difficult to keep that openness going in a project about such an intense topic.’
What role do you attribute to design when it comes to this type of social issue?
‘As a designer you are trained to be open, think broadly and experiment. Collaboration is very important in that respect. An interdisciplinary team helps keep up a critical thought-process. You need to be able to let go of the issue and listen to your intuition at the right moments. This requires a designer to make a decision; pick something worth trying and give it a go. This allows you to improve your understanding of the situation step by step and sharpen your design accordingly. This way of dealing with social issues ensures that solutions are formulated that will actually affect interactions and behaviour.’