As pioneers of User-Centred Design, one of Flow’s core activities is helping our clients to focus on their customers and on real user needs. We know this is essential, to design useful products that people love. But another core aspect of our approach is Inclusive Design - which makes products easier to use, broadens their appeal, and can lead to genuine innovation.

What is Inclusive Design?

Inclusive Design (or Universal Design, as it’s called in America) is not a genre of design, a tool, or another method for designers to learn. It is a design philosophy that informs every stage of the design process, from concept to production. The British Standards Institute defines it as:

“The design of mainstream products and/or services that are accessible to, and usable by, as many people as reasonably possible ... to the greatest extent possible, without the need for special adaptation or specialised design.”

But what does this mean in practice? First of all, it doesn’t mean that we stop focusing on our customers, or try to design something that appeals to everyone, without distinction. What it does mean is that we try to avoid design decisions that unintentionally make it harder for people to use your product.

For example, a young designer might feel that small, dark grey text on a light grey background looks great, and is perfectly legible. They can read it fine. But an Inclusive Design approach encourages them to consider differing levels of ability - many people have eyesight that is less acute than that of the average twenty year-old. Hopefully, this would lead to the choice of a different layout, one which didn’t exclude people with minor visual impairments.

Inclusive Design is not about catering for “special needs” with elaborate specialised adaptations. It is about making mainstream designs flexible and inclusive, and therefore useful to the widest possible range of people.

Broaden your appeal

A recent study estimates that 20% of the UK population has some form of permanent disability - that’s 12.5 million people. And that doesn’t include those of us whose abilities are temporarily restricted by injury, illness, or by using a product in sub-optimal conditions. No business would actively choose to ignore over 20% of the market, but if you’re not thinking about design inclusively, you may be doing just that.

Better design for all

In most cases, an Inclusive Design approach can bring improvements for all users. The OXO Good Grips range of kitchen utensils was born when Sam Farber began designing for his wife Betsey, who had arthritis in her hands. But OXO isn’t a specialist supplier - it’s now a globally successful company, producing innovative products that appeal to everyone, because they are well-designed and easier for everyone to use regardless of their level of ability.

Innovation through Inclusive Design

Good Grips’ designs also show us how an inclusive approach can bring about real innovation in products as simple as the measuring jug and the potato masher. In this case, as in many others, finding a way to address the needs of people with disabilities has helped kick-start a creative development process, with results that benefit everyone.

If you haven’t done so already, perhaps it’s time you took an inclusive look at your product, or service. To you, it might seem easy to use - but how easy would it be for someone with impaired vision, dyslexia, or learning difficulties? Chances are, improving things for these people would improve things for everyone.

No comments

We’re very proud to announce that the Ergonomics Society has awarded User Experience Consultant Frankie Pagnacco their Ulf Aberg Award for her Masters project. Frankie completed the project on sensemaking in the control of Rapid Urban Transit systems in 2008, as part of her MSc in Human-Computer Interaction with Ergonomics, at University College London's Interaction Centre.

The dissertation looked at how control room staff at London Underground’s Victoria Line made sense of the information they received about on-the-ground events through cues from their equipment and from each other. Using field observations, the study uncovered the situations that gave rise to sensemaking, the strategies adopted to ease and speed up sensemaking and the bottlenecks in information-seeking.

The Ulf Aberg award, given annually, recognises outstanding Masters projects in Ergonomics. Projects are assessed on the quality of the research, expertise, originality, clarity and interpretation of results.

Ulf Aberg, after whom the award is named, began his career in 1961 and spent over a decade working with Ericsson and later with the National Defence Research Institute. Aberg co-authored the first Swedish textbook on ergonomics and was the first foreign member of the Ergonomics Society and the founding chairman of the Nordic Ergonomics Society.

Congratulations to Frankie!

No comments