FMP: Include

See the app – a working prototype

Read the book – about inclusive design, user research, user group info, inclusive design best practices

(I apologise for not being able to show the book or prototype anymore)

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Inclusive Design Myth Busters

The following presentation debunks some common myths about Inclusive Design. It is accompanied by a nice book.

For more information on the business value of Inclusive design, also check this inspiring talk:

Rama Gheerawo: The Social Value of Inclusive Design from Norsk Designråd on Vimeo.

Users use, consumers consume, but people live (at 8:05 minutes)

Depository of Existing Design Toolboxes

A collection of toolboxes with user research methods to inform and inspire the development of a new toolbox for Inclusive Design.

Designing With People: a very complete toolkit developed at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design and RCA. The method section is based on the IDEO cards. It has a focus on people with sensory, physical or cognitive impairments.

• Clear structure and overview of contents
• Very complete: example personas, contexts and projects, user research methods, guidelines about user groups, and a guide on ethics.
• Literature references are given
• Comfortable balance between amount of pictures and text
• There are tips for choosing the right methods, but no selection is made for you

See more toolboxes >>>.

Who needs Inclusive Design Methods?

Which ICT companies could benefit from an Inclusive Design toolbox? And not only that, why would they want to use Inclusive Design?

Check out the COMMIT poster “Designing ICT for Social Inclusion”

Click for bigger PDF image

Inclusive Design: How Can It Improve Your Business?

“By making their customer service more inclusive, business help consumers of all ages, circumstances and abilities to live independently and maintain their chosen lifestyle.  It is a win-win situation.  By providing this service diversity, businesses attract more customers, which improves their bottom line – an important factor in these financially straightened times.” – Mr Serpell, Eastbourne Designed For All

 

Final Master’s Project: Inclusive Design Methods

There are many user research methods available today. Many are developed in an academic context, and are well documented in literature. But in many companies, especially smaller ones, the idea of user research seems foreign, costly and difficult [1]. While that might not be such a big problem for the majority of the user groups, there are some groups of people that are left out.

When designing a new product, be it a tangible one or interactive, it is so easy just to think about yourself as a possible user and design for that. But while you may be a sufficiently accurate representation of the majority of your users, you are probably not for users with challenges to their physical or cognitive abilities [2]. To avoid developing stereotypes and cliche ideas about these groups, it is of vital importance that actual users are involved in the design of the entire user experience, not just the interface, and in the complete end-to-end development process. We call this Inclusive Design [3].

To make Inclusive Design as easy and accessible as possible for smaller companies, a product or service is needed to help them develop their own Inclusive Design process. It could give an overview of such a process, help choosing suitable methods and provide design guidelines for specific target groups. The existence of such a service will not only help improve the quality of products and services already available to user groups with challenges, but hopefully also increase the amount of new developments that are accessible to them.

There are currently some toolboxes available [4], but none that advises on suitable methods for specific (cognitive) characteristics of target groups. Furthermore I believe the concept of a toolbox is a confusing one, since it implies you know what tool to reach for, and that you know what each tool is for so you can make an educated choice. In the case of inclusive design, the user of a toolbox may need more guidance and less choice, depending of the level of experience and knowledge of their target user group.

The toolkit I have in mind would be an intelligent, advisory, interactive system. Perhaps it can use analysis of a brand to recommend particular methods or design patterns, or it could gauge the level of experience with user centered design and adapt the offered information to that. I am inspired by data visualization techniques to make using the toolkit a unique experience.

TNO workshop: Design for Diversity

Workshop ontwerpen voor diversiteit. (in Dutch only, sorry)