ABOUT

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GRAPHIC DESIGN

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PAINTING

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PRINT MEDIA & PHOTOGRAPHY

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SCULPTURE

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VISUAL NARRATIVE

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@bu_visualarts

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@bostonpainting

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she/her

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Xiuqi Ran
WHEN THE CAT OPENS THE DOOR

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In life, we see people open doors all the time, but when a cat opens a door, it becomes a viral Tik Tok video. People are surprised by a cat that can open a door, yet they seldom consider why opening doors is so difficult for cats. The height of the handle and the mechanism by which the door operates are designed by and for humans. As a result, opening a door becomes a challenging task for animals or any being that doesn’t fit the human norm. 

Rather than just complain about this limitation, I want to explore how we can design doors that accommodate cats—an approach that can extend to broader issues of inclusivity in design. Just as humans take door opening for granted because doors are designed with our bodies in mind, countless other systems are created with a narrow perspective that overlooks the diverse ways people—and non-human beings—interact with the world. 

This cat-and-door metaphor can be applied to many situations. It reflects the relationship between marginalized groups and design methodologies that prioritize a dominant or normative experience. For example, women in a society where men are seen as the default, Asian Americans living in the US, or minorities in a world built for the majority. The struggle to engage with a world designed for others becomes an everyday experience for these groups, just as the cat struggles with a door built for human bodies.

Ultimately, my thesis calls for a new approach to design—one that doesn’t center the human or the masculine but recognizes the complexity of all identities. By embracing the other, design can move beyond the limitations of exclusion and open up new possibilities for how we interact with the world. Through this lens, I hope to encourage designers to think beyond designing for the dominant group and create with a broader, more inclusive perspective. Then, perhaps, we would no longer be surprised by the fact that cats can open a door, because doors were designed for them to be opened in the first place.

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