Inclusivity Is A Design Opportunity

From the way cities are planned to how products and services made, large groups of people tend to be left out of consideration. At Designing for Inclusivity, a recent discussion hosted at frog’s San Francisco studio in December, panelists and attendees discussed ways the design community can make a difference. Helping inclusivity become more mainstream in the designers’ collective conscience is also one of our Tech Trends for 2018.

We design for humans, but we are mere humans ourselves, guilty of bringing our own biases and assumptions into our work. Because we bring new tools and services into the world, we tend to focus on the needs of our primary users. But it’s important to expand our definition of inclusion for users of all abilities. It’s our responsibility as designers to be considerate in this process to avoid creating bigger barriers of exclusion.

Throughout the conversation, a more inclusive world was seen as one where individuals, businesses and organizations understand that living in the world with a ‘disability’ is not purely a medical diagnosis, but a recognition of poorly designed systems failing to adequately support more people.

“I see this as a chance to recruit an army of designers and design thinkers who are thinking about how to design for more people,” said Dr. Victor Pineda, a panelist at the event. As a social development scholar and disability rights advocate, Pineda stresses the positive ripple effect caused by inclusive thinking in product design. “I’m thinking not only about what a product can do, but also how that product transforms the way society understands what’s possible.”

The Language Of Inclusivity

How we talk about inclusivity was a major focus of the discussion. As panelists shared their own vocabulary and definitions, it became clear how crucial our environments and interactions are in shaping our lives.

“What is ‘disability?’ To me, it’s defined by two experiences. One is feeling excluded, like you don’t belong. The second is the loss of independence,” said panelist Tiffany Yu. As founder of Diversability, she leads efforts to “rebrand disability through the power of community.”

Culturally, designing for inclusivity is in line with a renewed focus on social justice in today’s landscape. Businesses have a critical role in mainstreaming inclusivity by putting more products in more hands through human-centered design that considers people of all abilities.

The Opportunity For Inclusivity

Rather than forcing people to engage with broken systems, there is tremendous opportunity for organizations to gauge the success of an offering by its reach. For many businesses looking for growth, it only makes sense to widen your user base through more inclusive offerings. By focusing on the quality of the experience, it is possible to deepen a customer’s relationship with a brand–and more customers at that.

At frog, our mission is to advance the human experience, which we believe requires a broad understanding of that experience. The goal of Designing for Inclusivity was to keep the conversation front of mind for the design community.

We design for humans, and that means a lot of different kinds of humans. A part of our process is to talk to people, to learn from them. Ultimately, we have the honor to bring products and services into the world and we don’t take that honor lightly.

Designing For Inclusivity Resources

Here are some great starting places for getting more information on integrating inclusivity into your design processes:

• Dos and Don’ts on Designing for Accessibility: Resources and Downloads
• Equal Entry: Raising Awareness and Training for Accessibility
• A11yBay: A Bay Area Meetup for Accessibility and Inclusive Design
• Disability Visibility Project: An Online Community for Sharing Disability Media and Culture
• YO! Disabled and Proud: Connecting Youth and Disabilities
• Diversability: Rebranding Disability through Social Enterprise
• World Enabled: Promoting the Rights and Dignities of Persons with Disabilities
• Dyno Mapper: 70 Web Accessibility Resources for Designing for Accessibility
• W3C: Web Accessibility Initiative: Designing for Inclusion
• Web Aim: Web Accessibility for Designers
• Deaf Friendly: Crowd-Sourced Information About Deaf-Friendly Businesses