The Future Of Inclusive Design
3-minute read
A panel of professionals across countries and disciplines came together to discuss the future of design justice and inclusivity (and celebrate UX For Change’s 8th anniversary). This is a little taste of the insights the panel had to offer and the important conclusions of the discussion.
What Does Inclusive Design Mean And Why Is It Important?
Inclusive design is:
“A practice that considers the full spectrum of human experience. It’s about eliminating barriers to participation.”
“It’s the future of success and should be about the business as a whole. Commercial, culture, people, product and services. It should become an integral part of venture and business building.”
“It’s about connection and conversation. How do companies, businesses, people, humans create that connection - speak to the people that feel excluded and find out what their needs are.”
“Championing marginalised people. Asking people who are not a part of the current conversation and are being excluded by current systems, policies and processes. Empowering them to have a voice and be a part of the conversation for good. Creating a snowball effect as the human experience grows and evolves but listening as it does.”
“Not carrying on the way we’ve always been doing things - we have been and currently are excluding a lot of people.”
“Building for the majority - when we think about the global majority ethnicity-wise it’s Black, Brown, Indigenous, Native and dual-heritage people that make up 85% of the global population and they are not currently represented at decision-making tables.”
“It means we need to consider everyone's different access needs and the barriers they might be facing, which we might not be aware of.”
“We need to ask ourselves how can we serve as many people as possible?”
“Speak to people. How can you access or not access our product? Would a new way of accessing it actually make it easier for a lot of people and differentiate our service too?”
The Future Of Inclusive Design
When asked about the future of inclusive design the panel said…
“Asking people what do you think - get perspectives”
“Putting ego aside and asking what is it that we don’t know?”
“Coming at design from a position of endless curiosity.”
“Mentoring young people in your organsiation so they’re empowered too.”
“Exploration, experimentation, taking the idea of inclusion from DEI into a wider world.”
“Leading by example for other organisations, increasing your awareness of other people’s lived experiences creating space to change.”
“Agile methodologies, design thinking were fringe ideas not too long ago. It’s moving through into the mainstream. How much will it remain a priority? The bus is moving and everyone needs to get on.”
“Inclusivity should be at the forefront of any technology development. Inclusivity is so important when building new ideas and businesses.”
“We need equitable strategies to over-index on the voices of people with lived experiences when designing to make sure the tech of the future is considering as many people as possible. People who aren’t currently involved in the conversation at all.”
“We need allyship to help people hear when psychological safety isn’t there. Diversity in design isn’t enough.”
“Don’t rely on the governance alone. It might be taken away tomorrow. Use your collective power as employees, consumers, and stakeholders, to show people in power where our collective interests lie. With inclusion for all.”
“We need to be asking ourselves what’s the consequence of staying where we are? What’s the consequence of not changing?”
What Did We Conclude?
We are currently excluding a lot of people from our businesses, services and products. Be that on the basis of ethnicity, gender, disabilities, religion, sexuality, age or socio-economic background. We should be open to gaining more experiences by including different people. Look at them as opportunities to reach, include and service more people rather than seeing it as another job that has to be done. Businesses have to be ok with knowing they’re currently excluding people and looking to find out who those people are.
We need to put ego aside and put people first when designing. Invite people into the process and actively listen to them, with empathy and with the intention to make a change.
We can’t rely on governance to push change forwards as it might be taken away from us tomorrow. We all need to act in small ways to hear the experiences of those who have been consistently marginalised and make sure we’re designing a future that includes them too.
Are You With Us?
The time is now to build inclusive culture and design into our organisations. Watch Asha Harkness’s video below about how we can all contribute to the Ripple Effect and together make create big waves of change. A great place to start is looking within. How can your organisation get to know what you don’t know yet?
Many thanks to the panel: Aleksandra Melnikova, Bhavesh Mistry, Lesley Sackey, Asha Harkness, Joe Cahill and moderator: Sunil Pithwa.
Happy 8th anniversary to UX For Change!
Are you with us?
A video of Asha Harkness, Founder of Indigo Inclusion, talking about the Ripple Effect