Inclusive Design is often misunderstood as being solely about accessibility for people with disabilities. In reality, it’s a powerful approach that benefits a much broader audience—enhancing experiences, driving innovation, and creating value for all users.
To help challenge these common misconceptions, the Centre for Inclusive Design (CFID) engaged our team to design a launch experience for a new research report commissioned by Adobe and Microsoft and developed by PwC. Our objective was to transform key insights from the report into a compelling, immersive event that highlighted the widespread impact and strategic importance of Inclusive Design.
The Problem:
While the research report uncovered powerful insights about the broad benefits of Inclusive Design, its traditional format lacked the engagement needed to capture attention. Dense content, limited interactivity, and common misconceptions about Inclusive Design risked the report being overlooked by key stakeholders.
Insight:
Despite its broad benefits, Inclusive Design is often misunderstood – commonly associated only with disability, burdened by stigma, and overlooked by stakeholders who are unaware of its commercial value. If we could show the purpose of Inclusive Design by providing relatable examples of everyday experiences, we could shift perceptions, spark empathy, and help audiences see how inclusive thinking leads to better outcomes for everyone.
Our task:
Transform a the research report into a relatable, interactive experience that engages a broad audience at the launch event. It needed to be memorable and inclusive, showcasing the value of Inclusive Design and leaving stakeholders with a clear understanding of its impact and potential.
Our team utilised the overarching methodology of the double diamond throughout the entire project, allowing us to work in an agile yet iterative way. After the initially researching and defining the problem space, as a team we pitched four concepts to our client that focused on communicating the value of inclusive design through empathy. The chosen concept utilised an interactive art installation, through which audience participation revealed a hidden message. A full document of our process can be viewed here.
designing for an event
‘Design For a Situation, Not a Disability (2019)’ removes the stigma surrounding inclusive design and permanent disability by inviting empathy.
The 2.5m tall by 1.2m wide string art installation prompted audience interaction, with each card presenting a scenario that related to a permanent, temporary and situational impairment and its corresponding degree of exclusion. The situations all explored the common feeling of impairment and exclusion, highlighting how any person can experience difficulty at some point in their life, even if temporary or situational.
To ensure inclusivity, the cards were compatible with the application Seeing AI, and the installation was accompanied by a descriptive audio narration.
Nine different cards were designed, each exploring a different set of situations that demonstrated the commonalities of exclusion.
The cards were then matched with statistics from the report, The Benefit of Designing for Everyone. When users removed all cards, the message ‘Design For Human’ created by the woven string was unveiled to illustrate that impairment is an indiscriminate feeling that anyone can experience.
Additionally, we also created an Inclusive Method Deck for our client, involving Design for Human Cards and a Mapping the Edge activity to be used in workshops. This allowed us to repurpose the messaging used in the art installation, to a different medium that would have a long-term impact.
These cards would be used as an ice-breaker at initial stages of consulting workshops. It allowed participants to engage with situational, temporary and permanent impairment, as well as educating on the broader spectrum of inclusive design.
We designed a following empathy building activity – Mapping the Edge. This exercise invites the client to map the pain points in relation to the card they have been given to gain an appreciation for ID. In doing so, clients would be able to empathise and gain awareness of the failures in design and how these can impact a broad spectrum of users.
The intervention was positively received by CFID, who are now utilising these cards and activities within their workshops to communicate the idea of Inclusive Design.