Inclusive Design aims to create products, environments and services that are accessible to and usable by all people, regardless of their abilities or disabilities.
Editorial
Inclusive Design: designing accessible products and services
Date
20 September 2024
Inclusive Design aims to create products, environments and services that are accessible to and usable by all people, regardless of their abilities or disabilities. Inclusive design means recognising, including and accommodating the different needs, abilities and preferences of users, from children to the elderly, from people of different cultures to people with different physical and motor abilities. The aim is to break down barriers and make the user experience smooth, easy and positive for everyone.
Key Principles of Inclusive Design
What does inclusive design mean? The key principles of Design for All lay down the fundamental guidelines for creating solutions that put the user and their needs at the centre. These are.
- Equality of use: it must be possible for the product or must be usable by people of different abilities without discrimination. For example, to be accessible a website should use alternative text for images, so that even blind people can navigate it easily.
- Flexibility of use: the design should be adaptable to a wide range of individual preferences and abilities. For example, a mobile application should offer different modes of interaction, such as voice and touch commands.
- Easy and intuitive use: the product or service must be easy and straightforward to use, regardless of the user's experience, knowledge, language or background. Think of a device with a clear user interface and well-labelled buttons, which are essential to reduce the possibility of errors during use.
- Perceptible information: the design must communicate the necessary information in a way that is accessible through different sensory channels. This means for example providing more alternatives for textual content, such as enlarged fonts, speech synthesis, infographics or Braille.
- Error tolerance: The design must be such that the risks and negative consequences of unintentional or accidental actions are minimised. For example, a pop-up message asking for final confirmation before deleting important data, perhaps stating that this action is irreversible.
- Low mental and physical effort: The design should guide the user through an enjoyable and satisfying experience, where each step is so clear that no effort is required. For example, in an online purchasing process, each step, from data entry to payment, must be intuitive and uncomplicated.
- Adequate size and space: It is very important to ensure adequate size and space for access, movement and use, regardless of the size or mobility of the user. This is the case for public toilets with spacious cubicles, designed to make access easy even for wheelchair users.
Benefits of Inclusive Design
Inclusive design is a great opportunity for companies to improve the user experience and their market positioning. Specifically, designing inclusively means:
- Increasing the number of customers. Inclusive design makes products and services more accessible to more people, enabling companies to reach a larger and more diverse audience.
- Making customers happier and more loyal. Users appreciate products and services that are easy to use and meet their needs, resulting in greater loyalty and satisfaction.
- Gaining a competitive edge. Companies that adopt this approach can set themselves apart from their competitors, improving their reputation and increasing market opportunities.
- Being compliant with regulations. Adopting Inclusive Design means complying with national and global standards. In Italy, Law No. 4 of 9 January 2004, known as the “Stanca Law”, lays down specific provisions to ensure the accessibility of websites.
- Optimising long-term costs. Investing in inclusive design at an early stage of development can reduce the costs associated with later modifications or adjustments, making products and services more efficient.
Best practices of Inclusive Design
User involvement is crucial to ensuring inclusive design. Involving people with different abilities, both in the early stages of development and when asking for feedback, provides valuable information for creating and optimising solutions.
Customisation is also an important best practice. Offering options that allow users to adapt the interface and functionality to their specific needs can significantly improve accessibility and usability. For example, providing text size adjustment and colour contrast can help meet a wide range of preferences and needs.
It is also important to provide textual alternatives for non-textual content, such as images, video and audio. This includes the use of audio descriptions, subtitles and alternative text for images, to enable people with visual or hearing impairments to access information.
Resources and Tools for Inclusive Design
Applying inclusive design concepts as part of the design process is a complex challenge that requires specific skills, experience and insight. To support and guide designers in this task, there are also online resources that provide guidelines, assessment tools and simulations to make it easier to create accessible and inclusive digital experiences for all. Key ones include
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines WCAG. Developed by the W3C, these guidelines define technical specifications for making web content more accessible to people with visual, hearing, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning and neurological disabilities.
- Accessibility checklists. Checklists, such as those offered by websites like the A11Y Project, help designers verify that their products meet accessibility criteria. These lists cover various aspects of design, from the use of colours to navigation.
- Accessibility software. Tools such as WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool) make it possible to assess the accessibility of a website, identifying problems and suggesting solutions.
- Disability simulations. Tools such as Funkify allow designers to simulate various visual and motor disabilities, helping them to gain a better understanding of the challenges faced by users with disabilities.
Are you interested in learning more about the world of Inclusive Design? IED promotes a design concept closely aligned with inclusivity, recognising the importance of creating accessible solutions for all. As Riccardo Balbo, Academic Director of the IED Group, points out: “At IED we have always promoted design as one of the main levers through which to improve the world. A catalyst for multiple perspectives to generate positive change”. This approach not only places value on diversity, but also fosters innovation and creativity, enabling designers to develop products and services that meet the needs of a diverse society.
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