Making design work accessible to and representative of as many people as possible is known as inclusive design. We use the term ‘process’ because it constantly evolves alongside technology and our learnings. Humanistic and empathetic design is the foundation of any high-quality product or service. Furthermore, it has become a standard practice for many businesses, which means that brands that fail to implement these principles risk falling behind their competitors. This article will discuss inclusive design and how to advertise it during your creative process.
What is Inclusive Design?
Inclusive design is the ongoing process of developing solutions to accommodate previously unaccommodated people’s perspectives, experiences, and situations. It has a close relationship with its antonym, exclusion. The goal of inclusive design is to eliminate points of exclusion. The term “inclusivity” may sound like a political buzzword, but at its core, it is a simple concept: making an effort to include where inclusion did not previously exist. To grasp this, consider the numerous factors that can lead to someone being included or excluded.
These can be physical or emotional, long-term or short-term, and situational or non-situational. Physical, permanent, and non-situational factors could include race, gender, mobility, and age. Someone using a design after a long day or under stress is an example of an emotional, temporary, and situational factor. Any of these will have an impact on their experience with or perception of a design. Thus, inclusive design is a method of dealing with these situations, and it can refer to anything from using stock images with racially diverse subjects to designing for people who use a mobile phone instead of a desktop.
Accommodating for any of these exclusions frequently has an impact on others. Captions on a video, for example, can benefit both the hearing-impaired and those who can hear when watching the same video in a noisy environment. Designing inclusively does not imply creating something for everyone. You’re creating a variety of opportunities for everyone to participate in an experience that gives them a sense of belonging. Finally, I’ve mentioned several times that inclusive design is a process. This is critical to grasping the concept of inclusive design: it is a verb, a continuous act of doing.
It is not a finished product where you can say, “We did it!” We’ve achieved complete inclusivity!” You can accurately say that you’ve practiced inclusive design by moving a user from an outgroup to the ingroup your design caters to, but there are still excluded people out there. The work goes on. Finally, it is a design approach with actionable steps as well as a mindset that you bring to your work every day, requiring imagination, learning, and empathy. All in all, inclusive design can be a difficult concept to grasp due to the breadth of what it encompasses.
Inclusive Design Principles
The principles of inclusive design assist designers in creating experiences that can be used by a wide range of users. This is made possible when a designer adopts an inclusive design mindset from the start, ensuring that the final product meets accessibility standards.
Consider the following inclusive design principles to do so effectively:
- Prioritize inclusivity early in the design process
Because inclusive design is largely a mindset, it is not something that can be turned on and off—it should be present from beginning to end. As a result, you must avoid treating inclusive design as an afterthought. This can result in rushed, shallow results. Rather, think about inclusivity as early as possible in the design process. This is also more practical—it is more difficult to make potentially major changes to a project when it is already in a semi-complete state than it is at the start. However, remember that inclusive design is more than just a checkbox; it is a way of thinking. - Identify exclusion based on ability.
Proactively seek out points of exclusion in your design and use them to generate and highlight opportunities to create new, inclusive solutions. Designers can help establish concrete steps toward being more inclusive once they understand how and why people are excluded.
A company website, for example, may lack alt captions for page readers, which assist people who are unable to see fully. Users with visual disabilities may be excluded due to a lack of alt text. As a result, it is critical for UX Designers to design for inclusion and include alt text, as well as other suggested guidelines. - Recognize situational difficulties
Situational execution, as opposed to ability-based exclusion, arises from various scenarios in which a user is unable to use a product effectively. For example, a user may be unable to hear the audio if they are watching a video without closed captions in a noisy airport. This airport noise disrupts their user experience and, if too loud, may prevent them from using the product at all. The design in this case did not include an alternative use for this situation. Closed captioning would be more inclusive in this case. - Avoid personal prejudices
To avoid unintentional, personal biases in your designs, involve people from various communities throughout the design process. Include specific user communities in your research and testing phases to help with this. There are numerous prototyping tools available to help you convert your static designs into clickable prototypes.
Remote usability testing is a good way to avoid bias. Companies like UserZoom and UserTesting have a diverse pool of users who have signed up and are ready to test your product. This aids in the recruitment process by allowing your company to reach out to a diverse group of users and test your product. - Provide a variety of ways to participate
A key principle of inclusive design is to provide multiple ways to participate in an experience. When a user is presented with various options, they can select the method that best suits their specific needs. For example, to improve the experience of those with hearing impairments, you can provide transcription services. Consider providing a full transcript, which allows for quick skimming, in addition to closed captioning, which provides real-time audio translation. - Ensure that all users have an equal experience
When designing different ways for people to interact with your product or service, make sure the experiences are comparable. Simply meeting accessibility standards does not imply providing a usable or comparable experience. Offering different playback speeds to users with hearing impairments, for example, helps ensure your experience is consistent for everyone. - Present various perspectives
The goal of inclusive design is to accommodate perspectives and experiences that are different from your own. As a result, inclusive design is not a solo endeavor for any designer—it is a collaborative effort that involves speaking with and learning from others.
Listening to negative reviews of customer experiences you consider to be edge cases, involving diverse members of staff in design work, and testing a design in front of a diverse group of people can all be examples of this. Take note of who your competitors include and who they exclude. Read the writings of diverse industry thought leaders to gain insight into how they navigate the world and overcome challenges.
Inclusive Design: 5 Best Examples
- Microsoft adaptive accessories
Microsoft recently announced a new suite of accessories, such as mice and keyboards, aimed at providing people with physical disabilities with greater access to technology. In addition to making computers more accessible to more people, the new Microsoft adaptive accessories support 3D printed add-ons, allowing customers to customize each piece to their specific needs and create their ideal setup. - ‘ThisAbles’ by Ikea: Additions to make life easier
Ikea Israel has collaborated with accessibility experts to make their furniture as inclusive and user-friendly as possible. ‘ThisAbles’ is a new line of 3D print accessories that can be installed on Ikea furniture to make it easier for people to sit or stand up from a couch, or to turn the lights on and off.
Product engineers and people with various disabilities collaborated to design these new accessories, assessing how different items could be adjusted to better suit their needs. Customers can also suggest new add-on designs to make other Ikea products more accessible. - Gender-neutral bathrooms: Removing labels
Gender-neutral restrooms are becoming more common in public buildings in Canada, China, the United States, and other countries. According to Yelp, more than 160,000 businesses in the United States have chosen to implement the change and introduce gender-neutral restrooms. Installing gender-neutral restrooms creates an inclusive environment in which people do not need to label their gender and make decisions based on it.
Furthermore, workplace experts have noted that providing gender-neutral restrooms in the workplace benefits both employees and a company’s brand reputation. By listening to your employees and creating affirmative and inclusive spaces and dialogues, the organization would be on the right track to retaining a diverse and talented workforce. - Headspace
The Headspace website also includes a customizable widget that allows users to activate specific features based on their needs.
The widget allows you to make the following changes:
- Navigation features include a screen and text reader, keyboard navigation, and voice commands.
- Color – background changes, high-contrast dark and light areas, monochrome
- Text magnifier, image descriptions, and readable fonts
Aside from the widget, the Headspace website design is simple, with a clear layout, good color contrast, large buttons, and self-explanatory links.
- Intercom Messenger
Intercom Messenger is fully accessible and adheres to the WCAG 2.0 guidelines. The Messenger is made accessible by the following features:- Screen reader support
- Keyboard navigation
- Color contrast
Intercom Messenger also allows you to add descriptions to images and captions to videos you share.
The structure of the company’s website is clear and simple to navigate. Text blocks alternate with images to make the information easier to understand.
Conclusion
Inclusive design is the process of making design work for people it has never worked for before, and businesses must reach previously untapped customer segments. However, inclusive design as a practice must be ongoing. Take your lessons learned from eliminating exclusion, create your inclusive design process, and train yourself and new employees on it. Although not everyone will get the inclusive design right the first time, the beauty of being human is that it is never too late to broaden your horizons.