How Inclusive Design Builds Empathy And Benefits Everyone
Inclusive design is the process of using best practice to accommodate the whole range of human differences into a user experience (UX). The inclusive designer designs for users of different abilities, genders, languages, even cultures. The inclusive design aims to cater for the full spectrum of human diversity. It extends further than accessibility, which focuses on users with special needs or disabilities. With many apps, accessibility seems like a design afterthought
This wide range of user abilities is a crucial aspect. Inclusive design caters for both permanent and temporary impairment. It also targets the loss of ability caused by situational or environmental barriers. Inclusive design is particularly pertinent for the design of websites, apps, video games and other software.
It’s important to add that there’s no holy grail of inclusive design. User abilities, needs and preferences are so catholic there can never be an ultimate result. But by using an iterative approach, a near-perfect
Why We Need Inclusive Design
Having a multitude of user experiences for separate apps and other design spaces is less efficient and cost-effective. Not only that, it separates users by their weaknesses and strengths. Instead, producing an interface which everyone can use, regardless of their abilities, unites by design. Empathy is key here, the feeling of belonging rather than feeling excluded. inclusivity of design is achievable.
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Inclusive design offers a great opportunity to bring people together. Ideally it would be mandatory, so that all websites and apps catered for special needs groups. At the very least, public spaces, such as government websites, should by law be accessible to everyone.
As an example, UI colors should be contrasting, but also adhere to color-blind design criteria. Communicating via colors alone is rarely a good idea because users perceive colors in different ways. Also, glare from the sun can impair vision for all users. Colors should always be combined with other design elements, such as links, for optimum accessibility.
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Targeting User Groups
The goal of inclusive design is to offer the same technology for all users, whether with special needs, disabilities or neither of these. As mentioned above, often impairments are not permanent but temporary. In certain situations, the same inclusive design can thus benefit able-bodied users too. Adverse situations are overcome with the same innovations that tackle permanent impairment.
It’s important to really get to know those user groups which gain the most from inclusive design. It’s not enough to read about adults and children with special needs or disabilities: the designers must spend time with them. Only by observing their frustrations firsthand, can an inclusive design successfully emerge.
Why Current Design Methods Must Change
Current design thinking usually only allows for one route to communicate a task, such as sending a text or opening a browser. To embrace the principles of inclusive design, two, even three, specific ways to complete the same task should be designed into the system. Start with the most uncommon tasks. For example, work out how your UI is operated with keyboard controls before you consider the mouse. This way you’re adding accessibility from the outset, rather than taking it on as a hasty afterthought.
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Inclusive design requires a change in the usual pattern of thinking. Conventional design attempts to find the most direct route for an average user to complete a task. But in reality there are no average users; we are all individuals with varying abilities. Denial of this fact risks alienating a large segment of consumers. Conversely, designing to inclusive principles expands the customer base.
Tips For Applying Inclusive Design
Good inclusive design practice begins at recruitment. The design team must comprise individuals who can empathize with disadvantaged users. Inclusive designers must be able to intuit how users with special needs cope with the functionality of websites and apps. It’s all about thinking beyond the ‘idealized’ user and embracing new ideas to produce a seamless UX for all users.
Don’t try to achieve this all at once. Yes, an inclusive design must begin at the initial stage of product development and continue throughout. But breaking your final goal into several smaller ones makes the design process so much easier and having some kind of guide to achieve those goals is crucial.
seven principles for inclusive design
● Provide comparable experience
● Consider the situation
● Be consistent
● Give control
● Offer choice
● Prioritize content
● Add value
These seven guidelines are a great start, and if you want to do more to make your product more accessible, I encourage you to
- Get an Accessibility Audit. Use an audit service to find out if your product works with assistive technologies and meets WCAG 2.0 level AA. Use the audit results to fix problems and do another test.
- Appoint an Auditor. You can appoint someone in your company to do recurrent accessibility audits. This could be someone in your QA team. If you don’t have someone with the experience, you can hire an external supplier.
- Make accessibility part of your design research. When doing research verify if your assumptions concerning accessibility were right and if there are any potential opportunities to improve. Recruiting people with disabilities requires a bit more work. Don’t hesitate to contact associations, and communities — people are willing to help
Useful tools
- WebAIM Color Contrast Checker: Great contrast color checker that gives you results in real time for regular and large text.
- Inclusive Components: A pattern library in the form of a blog, with a focus on inclusive design. Each post explores a common interface component and comes up with a better, more robust and accessible version of it.
- Color Oracle: A free color blindness simulator for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It shows you in real time what people with common color vision impairments see.
- Vox Product Accessibility Guidelines: A comprehensive checklist for designers, engineers, and project managers.
- AXE Google Chrome Extension: Test any site for accessibility violations using the Chrome inspector.
- Contrast: A macOS app for quick access to WCAG color contrast ratios.
References
It’s time to reconsider your target audience, by Raffaela Rein, July 18, 2018
The Same, But Different: Breaking Down Accessibility, Universality, and Inclusion in Design, by Matt May, Feb 4, 2018
Inclusive Design: 12 Ways to Design for Everyone, by Oliver Lindberg, Mar 23, 2018
It’s About All of Us: Building a Better Future With Inclusive Design, by Micaela Youmans, Silico