CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — As graduates at schools throughout the world receive their diplomas and listen to advice from commencement speakers, how they view a speaker affects how they receive his or her message, said University of Illinois architecture professor Kathryn Anthony. The podium they speak from can either convey a sense of power or diminish a person to a disembodied head.
When Anthony spoke at an Illinois architecture awards ceremony recently, she faced a dilemma. The podium at the ceremony was “a behemoth, king-sized podium. I know from experience if I stood behind it, no one would see me,” said Anthony, who stands 5 feet 2 inches tall.
She chose to stand to the side of the podium, holding her script in one hand and a lavalier microphone in the other. It wasn’t an ideal solution, but she knew that was the only way that she could be seen and heard by the large audience.
Anthony had a far different experience at a graduation ceremony two years ago. At that event, she was using a podium she helped to design that can be adjusted for people of different heights and for wheelchair users.
Anthony researches social and behavioral factors in design, and gender and race in contemporary architecture. In her chapter in a recently released book, “Diversity and Design: Understanding Hidden Consequences,” Anthony wrote about the podium design process and why the design of such an everyday object is important.
“The podium design may enable or interfere with communications. At worst, poor podium design may prove so distracting that it can undermine the speaker’s message altogether,” she wrote. “For a vast array of individuals, the podium serves as a highly visible example of an inadequate product design, one that is widely used but that works poorly.”
Standard podiums of fixed height can be particularly problematic for women, who are generally shorter and smaller than male speakers, Anthony said. The average height of a man in the U.S. is 5 feet 9.3 inches, and the average height of a woman is 5 feet 3.8 inches, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Although an unintended consequence, its design accentuates the speaker’s gender and body size, often leading to disparate perceptions of men and women, with women being viewed in a less favorable light. It calls attention to a speaker’s gender in a way that would not occur had it been properly designed to match his or her proportions,” she wrote.
Anthony noted other aspects that often block the audience’s view of a speaker, such as a laptop computer placed on top of a podium or large podiums that house audio-visual controls. The poor design elements distract from the message the speaker is trying to convey.
Speakers adjust the universal design podium that Anthony and her colleagues developed with the push of a button. It accommodates speakers with heights from 4 feet 2 inches to 7 feet. A panel slides out from either side for speakers who use wheelchairs. It can also hold a laptop computer during a presentation so it doesn’t block the view of the speaker.
The panels and the power outlets on both sides accommodate both right-handed and left-handed users. Underneath the podium is a storage space for purses or bags, a cup holder and a stool – if a speaker needs the extra height.
Anthony led the effort to design and construct the podium, and the U. of I.’s Mill Shop built it. Anthony invited colleagues of different shapes and sizes, including a colleague who is 6 feet 6 inches tall and another who uses a wheelchair, to test a mockup of the podium. An expert at the U. of I.’s Disability Resources and Educational Services and an architecture faculty member with expertise in furniture design offered suggestions.
“We designed it based on having people come and try it out and tell us what they needed, what worked and what didn’t,” Anthony said.
The design and construction of the universal design podium was funded by the provost’s Gender Equity Council, of which Anthony served as co-chair. There are now 10 such podiums in venues around campus that have been used by hundreds of speakers, from short to tall.
The podium design is an example of “why we need to pay greater attention to designing for diversity. One size rarely fits all,” Anthony said.