Insert pun of “she has a chip on her shoulder about chips on women’s shoulders” – but sure, that makes sense.
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The move comes after a subtle re-design of the main Facebook logo last week, and also with the debate over the gender gap in the world of technology continuing.
Victor instituted a similar redesign of the groups icon, placing the woman in the centre and having her backed up by two men.
Victor decided on putting the woman in front, slightly smaller than the man, after iterations where both the man and the woman were placed equally within the icon. Even though victor assumed that the icon was made without ill intentions, especially when she figured that chip would be place of the woman’s “friends” icon, she thought that it was done with a “lack of consideration”.
But that’s not all the improvements made to the little characters by Facebook design manager Caitlin victor.
In the “Groups” icon too she brought the woman up in the front again. For years, the company had used a “friends” icon with a man and woman, with the woman positioned behind the man. Worse yet, the generic female avatar looked like her shoulder had been lopped off.
Facebook has been busy updating its look. In a statement sent to NPR, Maxine Williams, Global Director of Diversity for the company, said, “Caitlin’s fearless approach to changing our design is a great example of our open and bold culture – so much bias operates as a result of unconscious choices and influences”. It’s a small change, but it could have a big impact on gender equality. “Instead, and somewhat magically, the new icons began to appear in new products across the company and our many platforms”. In tech and senior leadership positions, the divide is similar, with 84 percent and 77 percent male, respectively.
The American Association of University Women (AAUW) has published extensive research on gender issues in Silicon Valley.
An image may be worth a thousand words, but a Facebook icon represents literally millions of people. The tweaks to the Friends and Group icons probably went unnoticed by most users, but they make all the difference.
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The Friends tab on your Facebook app underwent a very subtle change, but one more important than you think. She noticed that a man was in front. She also smoothed out the male icon and created a genderless icon. Soon, the icons were up and circulated across users all over the globe.
