What's Inside?

In this course, you will:

  • INFORM - Learn why many public spaces, restaurants, stores, entertainment venues, and workplaces are not designed to meet the needs of America's plus size population.

  • LISTEN - Hear from actual plus size people about the best practices of size-inclusive furniture selection.

  • SYNTHESIZE - Determine how to select furniture for your office, classroom, store, restaurant, or any other space that will help make plus size people feel welcome and comfortable.

  • ACT- Define "next practices" authentic to your own principles so you can immediately make the world a kinder place!


Are you an architecture or interior design professional looking for continuing education credit? Find the AIA-approved Fat-Friendly Design course here.

Course curriculum

  • 1

    ADMINISTRATION

    • Welcome

    • Course Accessibility

    • Course-Taking Tips

    • Course Learning Objectives

    • Meet Your Course Instructors
  • 2

    INTRODUCTION

    • The Bigger You Are...

    • Chairs with Arms (Jen)

    • By Design?

    • Taking Up Space

    • Feel Your Space

    • REFLECTION PREP: IDENTITY

    • REFLECTION: How do I show up?
  • 3

    HUMAN NEEDS

    • What's YOUR "Comfortable"?

    • Comfort

    • Discomfort

    • The Experience

    • 95%

    • Inclusion

    • DEFINITION: inclusion
  • 4

    POPULATION NEEDS

    • America Today

    • Intersectionality

    • Don't You Mean "Fat"?

    • Body Positivity

    • Our Resposibility

    • DEFINITION: inclusive design
  • 5

    BUSINESS CASE

    • Value for Retail, Food Service, and Entertainment Venues

    • CASE STUDY: Palomar

    • CASE STUDY: Nossa Familia at Seven Corners

    • Value for Workplaces
  • 6

    EXPERT INPUT

    • Chair Talk

    • Introduction to Experts

    • Original Lifehackers

    • The Importance of Office Furniture for Fat People

    • What I Look For (Jen)

    • Height (Michael)

    • Comfort (Kelsey)

    • Options (Jen)

    • REFLECTION PREP: LISTENING

    • REFLECTION: What showed up?
  • 7

    DETAILS

    • Summary of Observations

    • Next Practices

    • Size Matters

    • Fit (Kelsey)

    • Flexibility + Malleability

    • Task Chairs (Michael)

    • Durability + Materiality

    • Commercial Use (Jen)

    • The Space Between

    • Chairings
  • 8

    ACTION

    • Becoming an Activist

    • REFLECTION: Where do I start?

    • REFLECTION PREP: ACTION

    • REFLECTION: How will I take action?

    • Conclusion
  • 9

    RESOURCES

    • Additional Design Resources

    • OPTIONAL: Add to our collective resources!

Course Reviews

5 star rating

Fantastic and eye-opening resource

Abigail Lee

This course shares so much information in an intuitive and empathetic way. It really changed my perspective on designing spaces for people of all sizes, and ...

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This course shares so much information in an intuitive and empathetic way. It really changed my perspective on designing spaces for people of all sizes, and gave me great practical strategies and resources.

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5 star rating

Amazing

Nate Ember

Excellent and thorough training with an abundance of resources! Also, the format is incredibly polished and professional, most legit online course I've done!

Excellent and thorough training with an abundance of resources! Also, the format is incredibly polished and professional, most legit online course I've done!

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5 star rating

Informative, Educational, and Engaging!

John Maternoski

I'm very much not a fan of virtual courses - to me they're generally painful to endure. Size-Inclusive Design, however, turned out to be a different animal. ...

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I'm very much not a fan of virtual courses - to me they're generally painful to endure. Size-Inclusive Design, however, turned out to be a different animal. There is SO much great content that could have easily been daunting to get through in a traditional course or lecture. It was, however, presented in a refreshingly interactive and engaging way. Text was broken up into small, quick, manageable pieces; with videos, images, audio, and Q&A components blended in throughout. I was very impressed with the content, and perhaps even more impressed with how easy and intuitive it was to navigate. Excellent work, IF!!

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5 star rating

Thoughtful and effective

Ben Carr

Thanks for helping me improve my knowledge base on this important topic!!

Thanks for helping me improve my knowledge base on this important topic!!

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5 star rating

Great Class

Alexis Richbart

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