11 July 2024
Our mission at Knight Moves is to create smooth and pleasant user experiences. We do this together with both private and public organisations, ideally for all users: citizens, clients, employees… Inclusive design is easier said than done. As a result, there is a tendency to consider it as ‘a problem’ to solve at the end, or even in a follow-up phase of the design process.
We want to reverse this way of thinking. We want to show that it is not only expensive and cumbersome to adapt a service or product afterwards, but also that it is a missed opportunity to design a better experience for all users.
So first, what does ‘inclusive design’ actually mean and how can we make it concrete? Our own search led us to three principles we use as a guiding principle:
- We don’t design for the average user, but take the diversity among users as a starting point.
- Inclusive design is not a goal on its own, it is a process.
- ‘One size does not fit all’, we believe in multiple solutions.
Principle 1: Diversity as a standard
Have you ever experienced that video-subtitles do not only help deaf people? Subtitles are different for each person in a noisy environment or just in places where it is inappropriate to have sound played. Or perhaps your organisation pays attention to clear language on its website and in correspondence, because not only low-literates but also non-native speakers benefit from this.
These examples may seem self-evident. Yet it is worthwhile sense to stop and think about them. They reflect important shifts in the vision on inclusion. At the moment, there is no unique or all-encompassing vision on ‘inclusive design’. However, there is a multitude of approaches: barrier-free design, universal design, universal acces, inclusive design and design for all. (1)
In this blogpost, we do not want to get lost in discussing each of these approaches. We mainly want to show you the difference between the perspectives. From there, you can see that the vision of inclusive design has broadened over time.
Permanent, temporary and situational limitations
In recent design history, the return of wounded Vietnam War veterans to the US was a major stimulus to bring more attention to inclusive design. The focus of this ‘barrier-free design’ has been on the accessibility of buildings and the user-friendliness of tools for people with physical or sensory disabilities. More recent approaches also include temporary or situational physical limitations.
For example, the Design for Dynamic Diversity approach emphasises that our physical, cognitive and sensory capabilities decline with age. There may also be situational barriers that make it difficult to access or use products or services. Think of the difficulties of using your smartphone or laptop when there is bright sunlight. Another example is not being able to hear the person you are talking to on the phone when walking down a busy street.
Social, cultural and economic exclusion
A second broadening of the concept of inclusion comes with the recognition that there are cultural, social or economic barriers in addition to physical ones. For example, the ‘design for all’ approach defines inclusive design as “design for human diversity, social inclusion and equality.”
Some examples. A good mastery of one language is an asset in a country where that language is the main language, but an obstacle to participation in a country that does not use the language. Wearing a nikab can be necessary for social participation in one country, but can lead to exclusion in another.
Overpriced products or services reserved for people with limited means exclude certain users economically. An example of a social obstacle is the shame that prevents people from claiming a benefit to which they are entitled (non-take-up).(2)
Tools we recommend
Microsoft’s inclusive design toolkit provides a paradigm when designing digital products. The toolkit includes ‘persona spectrum maps’ that point out that disabilities can be not only permanent but also temporary and situational in nature. The context maps in the toolkit make us aware of the influence of context on the accessibility of designs.
Because of this, we are fans of the ‘7B-benadering van toegankelijkheid’ (7B approach to accessibility).(3) This framework makes organisations aware of the diversity of obstacles that challenge them to provide effective services. The ‘7Bs’ stand for: ‘bekendheid’ (knowledge about), ‘bereikbaarheid’ (reachability), ‘beschikbaarheid’ (availability), ‘betaalbaarheid’ (affordability), ‘bruikbaarheid’ (usability), ‘begrijpbaarheid’ (understandability) and ‘betrouwbaarheid’ (reliability).
We conclude that
- There is no ‘average user’ that you can use as a standard in design. We take a holistic approach, where ‘the user’ is diverse by definition.
- A disability is not a strictly individual characteristic, but a mismatch between a designed product or service, the individual characteristics of the user and the context in which the user finds himself.
The business case
Besides ethical reasons, economic reasons are also decisive to strive for inclusive design. The ‘exclusion calculator’, developed at the University of Cambridge, gives you insight into the proportion of people you exclude if your design is insufficiently adapted to specific physical limitations. The free version of the tool allows you to estimate the accessibility of one task at a time. Please note that the tool does not count the persons who experience these obstacles temporarily or situationally. As a result, the business case is greatly underestimated.
For example, if we were to count only the number of people in the US who permanently have only one arm, we are talking about 26,000 people. If we add the people who temporarily have one arm, for example because they broke the other one, we are talking about 13 million people. If we add the people who have one arm situationally, for example when carrying a child on their arm, we are talking about more than 21 million people. (4)
Principle 2: Inclusive design is a goal and a process
We define inclusive design primarily as a goal we want to achieve. Namely, that a product or service is accessible and usable for everyone.
Other approaches, to which we subscribe, also see inclusive design as a process. In the first place, it implies pro-activity. For example, the accessible design approach defines inclusive design as “a conscious and systematic effort to proactively apply principles, methods and tools of universal design in order to (…) develop technologies that are accessible and usable by all citizens, including the very young, the elderly and those with different disabilities. This will avoid the need for subsequent adjustments or special designs. (5)
Or as Kat Holmes, former Principal Director of Inclusive Design at Microsoft states (6), “Inclusive design should be a priority, not an afterthought.”
Second, for us, an inclusive design process means actively involving a diverse group of users in the design process, preferably from the start.
Tips for an inclusive process in your organisation
- Ensure a diverse composition of your policy, design and development team.
- Ask for feedback from a focus group of experts during the crucial steps in the design, development and implementation process.
- Broaden the diversity of the participants in a user test.
- Use checklists and/or guidelines if you cannot rely on feedback from real people. These tools can help you, for example:
- Check on wcag.nl if your website conforms to the Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG)
- Use Chrome Devtools to check if you are creating an accessible webpage
- Organise a hackaton with users who pose a specific challenge to inclusive design. In the video below we show how we joined forces with 4 other design agencies and the diverse panel of experience experts of the city of Ghent.
The business case
The measures proposed here for inclusive design do not make the design process any cheaper. However, it is short-sighted to conclude that inclusive design is too expensive. After all, it is much more expensive to make inaccessible designs accessible afterwards. Especially when it comes to components or templates that are integrated into countless websites.(7)
Principe 3: One size does not always fit all
There are two different views on the desirable end result of inclusive design. One seeks to design one unique solution accessible to all; the other does not believe in this ‘one size fits all’ approach. Instead, it advocates personalising solutions, i.e. a ‘one-fits-one’ approach in extremis. The latter tendency is particularly present among designers of digital products and services. These two visions are diametrically opposed. At Knight Moves, we rather see it as a spectrum
Inclusive designs benefit everyone
We believe that ideally there is one product or service that is accessible and usable for everyone. Complementary versions are a good alternative when the pursuit of ‘one size fits all’ results in the product or service being suboptimal for the majority of users.
After all, in many cases, ‘adaptations’ that meet the needs of a limited group are added value for a larger group of users.
Let us illustrate this with a few examples
Toegankelijker EPC
By order of the Flemish Energy Agency, we redesigned the existing Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). Among other things, we reworked the visual design and the colour code of the central graphic as the copy. This made it a document that is wonderfully clear to experts and homeowners who are mostly laymen in building matters.
Mobile hero image van Unilever
The increase in the use of mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) compared to the desktop prompted Unilever to design alternative visualisations of its products for e‑commerce. In such ‘mobile hero images’, important information is made more prominent. Below is a contrasting example that we found on the Collect & Go website. Consider for a moment how much easier it is to gain insight into the content and volume of the product on the left than of the product on the right.
More tips
Check the following website to find tips to make your own communication more accessible:
- For more tips on “mobile ready hero images” you can go here http://ecommerce.inclusivedesigntoolkit.com/
- For advice on writing in plain English: https://companieshouse.blog.gov.uk/2018/01/10/plain-english-write-less-say-more/
When one approach is not enough
However, it can also be desirable to offer different complementary versions of a product or service to achieve inclusion. In education, for example, teachers can diversify their approach to respond to the different learning styles of children (verbal, visual, alone/in a group, …). For example, together with students and teachers from GO! we developed the digital learning environment IXZO! that allows students to take control of their own learning process by choosing from the digital learning mix offered at their own pace.
Inclusive design for everyone is impossible. There will always be potholes. It is a matter of limiting their number and size.”
Finally, the solution can also lie in tricks that allow information to be made accessible in different ways in one and the same place. Examples of this can be found online in the first place. Think of the ‘read aloud’ button (see e.g. website of the City of Ghent) or the possibility to adjust the contrast (e.g. website of Tourism Flanders).
It has to be said: Designing inclusively for everyone is very difficult, if not impossible. So how do you prioritise? Ben Carpenter from Government Digital Services (UK) gave the following tips:
- Map the whole picture: who experiences which obstacles because of which individual/situational characteristics
- Prioritise solving obstacles that lead to effective exclusion (rather than inconvenience)
- Prioritise solutions that will have the most impact (number of people reached)
The business case
Did you know that touchscreens, email, cruise control, and the typewriter were invented by people with permanent disabilities who were looking for an alternative to the objects they could not use. For example, the typewriter was invented by a blind woman who no longer wanted her intimate love letters to be written out by a servant.(8) Designs that were actually intended to help a limited group of users have ultimately become technologies that are used by everyone. With a return on investment: the customized visualizations of products from Unilever, among others, in web shops have strongly stimulated sales.(9)
Getting started with inclusive design yourself?
We hope that this blog post about our principles of inclusive design has inspired you to get started in your organization. Does it seem like an insurmountable challenge to you? It doesn’t have to be. We believe that it is better to take small, targeted steps forward than to leave everything as it is. We also see many opportunities for improvement for ourselves, such as a more accessible website.
Above, we have provided several tools to get started with inclusive design yourself. You can easily find them in the boxes for each of the principles.
At Knight Moves, we are currently developing a toolkit that you can use with a team in your organization to map out and prioritize the areas for improvement in the field of accessible services in a co-creative way.
Sources
1. Persson, H., °Ahman, H., Yngling, A.A. & Gulliksen, J.(2014), Universal design, inclusive design, accessible design, design for all: different concepts — one goal? On the concept of accessibility — historical, methodological and philosophical aspects, in Universal Access in the Information Society 14 (4): 505 – 526.
2. Op de site van het Steunpunt ter bestrijding van armoede, bestaansonzekerheid en sociale uitsluiting vind je meerdere relevante publicaties en video’s rond het thema van ‘non-take up van rechten’.
3. De herkomst van dit kader is onduidelijk. Online vind je meerdere verhelderende toepassingen waar je als organisatie op kan bouwen. Bijv. in de zorg (Inspiria/Kenniscentrum Welzijn Wonen Zorg), kinderopvang (Kind & Gezin)
4. Microsoft (2016) Inclusive Design Toolkit
5. Deze definitie is opgenomen in Persson, H., °Ahman, H., Yngling, A.A. & Gulliksen, J.(2014), Universal design, inclusive design, accessible design, design for all: different concepts — one goal? On the concept of accessibility — historical, methodological and philosophical aspects, in Universal Access in the Information Society 14 (4): 505 – 526. (vrij vertaald naar het Nederlands)
6. Kat Holmes schreef het boek ‘Mismatch: How inclusion shapes design’.
7. Vera, C. L. (2018), ‘The true cost of universal accessibility’, blogpost on UX Collective
8. Ben je benieuwd naar alle verhalen?
9. The Engineering Design Centre van University of Cambridge geeft enkel cijfervoorbeelden van betere verkoopscores dankzij ‘mobile ready hero images’