Why inclusive design?

Most products and services are generally designed for the average user in a particular demographic. The average user, however, represents a minority and is never representative of the wider population. Currently there are 1 in 4 New Zealanders, or 1.1 million people either temporarily or permanently disabled. The New Zealand demographic is also changing. We are becoming a more multicultural society with an ageing population that is growing and living longer.

Inclusive design provides an opportunity to embrace this diversity and play a key role in creating social inclusion. Equally, inclusive design makes good business sense. It provides a powerful strategy for innovation that results in better products and greater user satisfaction. This in turn has the potential to increase commercial success by appealing to a wider market.

An inclusive design process can also reduce the risk of undesirable and costly problems later in the product or service lifecycle. Understanding the diverse range of user needs can avoid causing unnecessary frustration and exclusion, and the potential to cause damage to the brand image through post-purchase dissatisfaction.

Champions

We've been asking some great New Zealand designers why they work in an inclusive way and in the videos below they talk about some of their processes, values and strategies for making inclusive design part of how they work.