In my previous blog, we discussed about Inclusive Design and its importance. Today, let’s try to understand Inclusive Design in more detail considering various user groups. 

As we now know, Inclusive design is a design to aid the range of human diversity. It could mean having different features to enhance the product but, the end goal of Inclusive design is to deliver the same experience to the all users regardless of their limitations.  

There are multiple user groups and people who use various products come from a wide variety of backgrounds and have diverse life experiences. These experiences impact the way they interact with the world and things around them. Therefore, in order to make product experiences easy, diverse user groups need to be studied, understood and empathised with in order to design for them.  

• Inclusive design for people with visual impairment would be to have an alternative for visual elements such as auditory or haptic feedback, bright contrasting colours, tactile or braille marks.  Adding a tactile marking on the number 5 on a number pad would be a simple addition in the design that would help them identify the functions of the buttons on a TV remote by exploring it themselves, without being dependent on anyone else.  
• Inclusive design for people with hearing impairment would be being able to have an alternative for sound in the form of written text or some visual feedback. Example: An alarm clock which vibrates.   
• Inclusive design for a person with mobility impairment would be to have alternatives such as a big and textured grip so that it is easy for them to hold and use products. It could also be to have alternatives to access places. Such as ramps or railings in public places or multiple holding points for easy access so that they are able to move around easily with their crutches or wheelchairs.  
• Inclusive design for a person on the autism spectrum and for someone with learning difficulties would be to provide more visual elements to aid their understanding and provide them with time to make a decision.  

Inclusive design for different user groups is basically to a provide varied users with a choice or an alternative so that things get easy for them to use. People should be able to access and interact with products in their preferred way. The features of the product should be able to enrich the user experience by providing efficient and diverse ways to find and interact with the product.  

Also, inclusive design should be as intuitive as possible and should aim to make the person as self independent as possible. This sense of self independence would also enhance their experience and make the user keep going back for the product or service.  

Get in touch with the BarrierBreak team if you would like to have a quick chat with our team to know how we can help you design an inclusive product. 

The post Inclusive Design for different user groups appeared first on Leader in Offshore Accessibility Testing | Section 508 Compliance | WCAG Conformance | BarrierBreak.

Look around. Touch things. Explore forms.

Do you see or feel the bed or the chair you are sitting on, the phone or the laptop you are using, the jewellery you or your partner is wearing or the bottle kept on your desk? Have you wondered who designs these products or why they are designed the way they are?

Most of these products have been designed by a product or an industrial designer. While an engineer is responsible for designing the mechanical or the technical aspect of the product, a product designer is in charge of the usability and aesthetics on the product.

What is Product Design?

Product design is commonly defined as imagining and creating products that solve problems or address specific needs of users. A product designer using multiple user research tools identifies and records user specific problems and converts the 2D iterations into 3 dimensional objects using prototyping tools. A product designer’s main role is to create and iterate products to solve users’ problems or address specific needs in a given market. They aim is to improve the way that existing products work and look and/or produce them at a lower cost.

What makes a Product Design good?

Go back to thinking about the objects mentioned earlier. Would your product experience with the chair or the bed be the same had it been at a higher or lower level than its current level? Would the necklace be easier to wear had the clasp been different?

A product designer is able to churn out successful designs only by understanding of the end-user customer or the person for whom the product is being created. They attempt to solve real problems for real people by using both empathy and knowledge of their prospective customers’ habits, behaviours, frustrations, needs, and wants.

What is Inclusive Product Design?

Let us have a look at some of the products that we use daily to understand inclusive design. Do you think the way you use your computer or your mobile phone is the same way a person who is visually or physically impaired would use it? The way one user group uses a product differs in the way another group uses it and every design decision has the potential to include or exclude customers.

Inclusive product design emphasizes the need to widen the horizon, understand and incorporate differing perspectives of the diverse users using the product. This vast spectrum of diversity covers the user groups’ abilities, needs and aspirations.

Inclusive product design is fundamentally to provide alternatives for a person to the use the product. It aims to do so while making sure that the experience of using a product remains the same for all user groups regardless of their limitations. Inclusive design should be embedded in the design process and product.

Why is Inclusive Design important?

There are a large variety of user group with special needs. From people with visual impairment to hearing impairment, from elderly to people with physical and cognitive impairment. Although many a times, designers instinctively design for able-bodied users while neglecting the limitations and needs of people from the other user groups.

How do we do practice Inclusive Product Design at BarrierBreak?

We at BarrierBreak believe that inclusivity in product design is not only making something more accessible but also making it more usable. A good product designed keeping in mind all the varied user groups not only enriches the experience of the user but also, expands the market of the product.

We realise that while designs have to be inclusive, the product should not be too stigmatizing. If a product is targeted and labelled for a specific user group, it is stigmatizing for that particular user group and it might also prevent someone from outside the user circle from buying it as they might think it is only for someone with special needs.

We along with our product designer and accessibility experts, conduct user research of various products with different user groups in order to suggest design changes to make it inclusive and increase the market reach. Get in touch with our team if you would like to have a quick chat with our team to know how we can help you design an inclusive product.

The post What is Inclusive Product Design- BarrierBreak Approach appeared first on Leader in Offshore Accessibility Testing | Section 508 Compliance | WCAG Conformance | BarrierBreak.