As the Erasmus+ co-funded project 'Inclusive Design Hub' (Pr. No: 2023-1-DE02-KA210-VET-000124768) winds down, we reflect on the powerful and sustainable impact it has had on our target audience. This initiative has fostered significant growth and learning, leaving a lasting legacy within our community.
One of the most notable contributions to the project's success comes from the students of XU Exponential University in Potsdam. Volunteering their time and skills, these students have produced engaging videos that further promote the goals of the Inclusive Design Hub and align with European values. Their work exemplifies the spirit of collaboration and innovation that this project embodies.
In this article, we are excited to introduce you to three exceptional students: Luis Eisemann, Christian Bonev, and Leon Winter. They are currently enrolled in the undergraduate study program 'Digital Marketing and Social Media', B.Sc. Each of these students has played a pivotal role in creating valuable video guidance aimed at assisting freelancers and newcomers across Europe.
Together, these students share insights about their workflow and the creative process behind producing these valuable resources. Their dedication to the project highlights the importance of involving young talent in initiatives that promote learning and inclusivity.
The 'Inclusive Design Hub' project may be concluding, but the resources and inspiration it has generated will continue to support and empower freelancers and newcomers across Europe. We are grateful for the contributions of Luis, Christian, and Leon, and we look forward to seeing how their work will inspire others in the future.
Q1: What inspired you to create such an engaging video for the Erasmus+ co-funded project 'Inclusive Design Hub'? Can you share some of the creative processes behind it?
Luis Eisemann (LE): We were thinking about how to create a video that is both educating as well as entertaining. I think that this is a topic that you don’t necessarily think to much about in the beginning. but can get in some serious trouble if you never do. Therefore, creating such an content seemed helpful to a large number of people.
Christian Bonev (CB): Our goal was to provide relevant information in a way people understand easily. We wanted to share our knowledge in an engaging and entertaining way.
By creating a visually appealing video we feel confident that people will engage with the video and actually listen to what we are saying.
Leon Winter (LW): As we started to create the video, we realized that just telling the user about our topic would not be enough to entertain them over the length of the entire video, so we adapted the video to well known formats on apps like TikTok or Instagram Reels. Like this, the video feels like a native part of the users “for you page”.
Q2: How did you ensure the video's content was inclusive and accessible to a diverse audience? What specific elements did you incorporate to achieve this?
Luis Eisemann (LE): Making the content easily accessible was most important to us, as we wanted everybody to be included. Therefore, we ensured to explain difficult topics, used both audio as well as subtitles and used images to underline the message we were trying to convey.
Christian Bonev (CB): We put a great focus on making use of captions within the video. With this, we wanted to make sure that everyone has the option to not only listen to the content but also stop the video and read the information we want to provide with an individual speed which is choose-able for each person on their own. Further we added a lot of visuals to make sure everyone can keep their attention span as long as possible. Knowing that it might be hard for people to follow a relatively long video with visuals changing up what you can see on the screen.
Leon Winter (LW): I can just add that we wanted to make sure that most people are able to understand the video. Therefore it was obvious for us that the video must be in english. The subtitles and pictures can help people who are not fluent in english to understand the content anyway.
Q3: What challenges did you face during the production of the video, and how did you overcome them? Were there any particular moments that stood out to you?
Luis Eisemann (LE): We had to navigate the landscape of GDPR for ourselves and realized the challenges that come with it. By creating educatinal content about it, we could learn a lot for ourselves.
Christian Bonev (CB): At first we could not agree what angles we wanted to use for the video and how many perspectives we wanted to shoot in. After trying things out, we figured out what works best for us and wich material we can use the best.
Leon Winter (LW): We had a hard time to convey the content into an interesting format at first. Some of our drafts felt like they were not attention-grabbing enough.
Q4: How do you hope your video will impact viewers and contribute to the goals of the 'Inclusive Design Hub' project? What message do you want to convey through your work?
Luis Eisemann (LE): I hope that people understand that while GDPR may seem overwhelming in the beginning, the basics are not that hard to get right and a really crucial element to modern digital freedom.
Christian Bonev (CB): My hope is that we could provide people knowledge they haven’t had before. By helping everyone understand the basics of GDPR, I hope to be able to support everyone with understanding things around this topic work in Germany and Europe.
Leon Winter (LW): I think we all hope that we can help people to understand GDPR and not just use it to their advantage but also understand why it is such a necessary guideline of the EU.
*Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
