Imagine opening a social media app but the font is too small to read, your name doesn’t fit in a form field, and your gender isn’t even an option. Frustrating, isn’t it? Companies that fail to prioritize inclusivity in their products may cause this bad user experience (UX).
With 67.1% of the diverse global population using digital products, inclusive design is the need of the hour. Marie-Aude Sourd, a senior UX researcher and instructor, shares her thoughts and practical tips for designers.
What is inclusive design?
People often equate inclusive design to accessibility. However, Marie points out that it goes beyond focusing on people with permanent disabilities. At its core, “Inclusive design is a process that involves making sure no one is excluded,” Marie explains.
Inclusive design aims to address users of all ages, abilities, languages, educational levels, and locations, to name a few. While this may sound straightforward, it can be quite challenging to achieve. One way designers can approach this task is asking themselves “Who am I excluding?” before even considering how to include different groups.
But just like no product is ever truly perfect, no product is ever fully inclusive. This is why designing inclusively also means designing humbly. Marie says this process requires an open mind, and a willingness to learn from mistakes and iterate.
Why is inclusive design important?
For companies, inclusive design matters because it directly affects their business and market share. Marie explains that when companies exclude certain groups, even unintentionally, they lose potential customers. “At the end of the day, businesses want to make money and exclusion means losing part of the market,” she points out.
Apart from profits, inclusive design is important because it factors in the ever-changing needs of all users. Everyone has different abilities and experiences, and we all encounter challenges at some point in life—whether from an injury, aging or the limited gender options an app offers. By catering to these circumstances, inclusive design helps users engage with digital products throughout the course of their lives.
As Joyce (2022) notes, inclusive design can mean adding font size controls and dark mode to assist older users with vision issues, as well as designing surname fields to accept different lengths and special characters for people from different cultures. Ultimately, companies need to make sure their products are easier to use for everyone throughout their multifaceted lives.
However, Marie adds that if inclusivity overcomplicates the UX, it can do more harm than good. For instance, some companies implement convoluted inclusive writing styles in gendered languages, such as Spanish and French. This often alienates users with dyslexia or other challenges. “Inclusion should not come at the cost of usability,” she emphasizes.
What is the future of inclusive design?
For Marie, the future of inclusive design will revolve around constant learning and raising awareness. UX designers must grasp the full meaning of inclusion while recognizing and unlearning their biases.
With the rise of AI, Marie also stresses the need to be critical of these tools, as they blindly reproduce the said human biases from the data they’re trained on. In other words, AI can assist but humans have the critical and ethical thinking that AI lacks, so designers and corporations must use it responsibly. As she puts it, “We are the future of AI, not the other way around.”
It’s more important than ever for designers to stay focused on creating for the human experience. “Being exceptionally human is what will differentiate us from machines,” she says.
So, how can designers make products more inclusive?
In summary, Marie offers these practical tips:
- Identify: Before thinking about how to include everyone, first ask yourself which groups are left out.
- Diversify your persona: Involve people of different ages, abilities, genders, races, and backgrounds.
- Test and improve: Inclusive design is never finished. Be open to constant testing, feedback, and iterations.
- Keep it simple: Inclusivity should improve usability, not make it more difficult. Don’t overdo it.
- Watch for bias: Be aware of biases in yourself and AI tools, and seek training to address them.
As a user, critically think about your everyday digital products: Who are they excluding? And what about experiences outside the digital space? If you’re curious, read about enhancing the concert experience with accessibility lines.
