User Experience
Inclusive Design
Plain English
Designing products so they work for as many people as possible.
Definition
serviceAccessibilityFind accessibility issues early, improve usability, and build products that are more inclusive, usable, and compliant.Open service is an approach that considers the full range of human diversity when creating products, ensuring they work for as many people as possible. It goes beyond glossaryAccessibilityAccessibility is the practice of designing products so they can be used by people with a wide range of abilities, including those with disabilities. It ensures that content and functionality are available to as many users as possible.Open glossary term by designing for different glossaryContextContext is the set of surrounding conditions that shape how someone behaves and decides, including their goal, their environment, their time pressure, and what happened immediately before. The same action can mean different things in different contexts.Open glossary term, abilities, and experiences from the start.
In practice
Used to design products that consider glossaryEdge CaseAn edge case is a rare or extreme scenario that falls outside typical user behaviour.Open glossary term and diverse user needs early, rather than retrofitting solutions later.
In context
It reliably produces improvements for everyone. Designing for someone using one hand on a moving train ends up serving every distracted user on the glossaryServiceA service is a component or function that performs a specific task within a system.Open glossary term.
The reality
Designing for the ‘average user’ excludes more people than it helps.
Compared with
Inclusive Design vs Universal Design
Universal design aims for one solution that works for everyone. serviceAccessibilityFind accessibility issues early, improve usability, and build products that are more inclusive, usable, and compliant.Open service accepts that sometimes several routes are needed and designs deliberately for the range. The second is more honest about genuine conflicts of need.
FAQ
Common questions
A few practical answers to the questions that usually come up around this term.
What is inclusive design?
serviceAccessibilityFind accessibility issues early, improve usability, and build products that are more inclusive, usable, and compliant.Open service ensures products work for a wide range of people and situations.
How is inclusive design different from accessibility?
serviceAccessibilityFind accessibility issues early, improve usability, and build products that are more inclusive, usable, and compliant.Open service focuses on removing barriers, while inclusive design proactively considers diverse needs.
Why is inclusive design important?
It creates better experiences for more users and reduces exclusion.
How do you apply inclusive design?
By considering diverse users and glossaryContextContext is the set of surrounding conditions that shape how someone behaves and decides, including their goal, their environment, their time pressure, and what happened immediately before. The same action can mean different things in different contexts.Open glossary term throughout the design glossaryProcessA process is a defined sequence of steps used to achieve a specific outcome.Open glossary term.
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