Experience Dynamics Inclusive Design consulting service includes strategy, team training, design auditing, and organizational support for program building. Inclusive design reaches all underrepresented communities and seeks opportunities to innovate and include diverse user needs. This includes users with disabilities and extends to Black, People of Color, LGBTQ+, aging populations, lower socio-economic status, and more.
Why do you need Inclusive Design?
First, without being bias-informed, you will fail to address threats to your users. These threats include bias, harm, discrimination, and exclusion. Including users up-front can also avoid a PR UX problem. Two examples:
At the start, Apple’s iPod was inaccessible to users with disabilities. With the threat of a lawsuit, Apple committed to embedding accessibility in all future products. It upholds this commitment today.
Xiaomi unwittingly released a fitness tracker in Africa, that only detected lighter (Asian) skin tones and did not function at all with darker skin tones. The product had to be withdrawn and reworked to be more inclusive.
Second, by “building for one and extending to many,” you can find new emotional value that may not be immediately apparent in traditional UX work. Third, consumers demand more fair and just experiences that place inclusion at the forefront of product and service strategy.
- 70% of customers expect organizations to provide AI interactions that are transparent and fair (CapGemini report 2020)
- Two out of three Americans told us their social values now shape their shopping choices (McKinsey 2022)
- 64% of consumers were more likely to click an ad that showed diversity (Google study 2020)
Inclusive Design principles
Inclusive Design is not a project or product-based trend or checkbox. It needs to be part of your overall process. By having everyone committed to inclusion in your product strategy, you can build long-term trust with your community. The unique challenges and insights of underrepresented communities lead to inventive solutions that wouldn’t have been discovered otherwise. Instead of ignoring ‘edge’ or extreme users, they help you identify risks and amplify equity in your design.
By embracing inclusivity, you showcase your commitment to social responsibility, attracting a loyal customer base that appreciates your genuine efforts.
Included in our Inclusive Design consulting services:
- Inclusive Design Training: Join dozens of teams we have provided private custom training to learn inclusion tactics and strategy. Request an Inclusive Design training for your team.
- Inclusion Coaching- Process Redesign and Policy Design: Inclusion Coaching supports the org-wide Inclusive Design process, including Inclusive Design strategy research and building a program for an inclusive process (Policy and Process Redesign).
- Design Auditing: This includes a consulting service of a Bias Review from an expert panel, Abusability Testing, and Self-Auditing for your team via our Inclusive Design tool.
What sets us apart is our research-backed approach to inclusion challenges. Inclusive Design is a bridge, uniting product-service strategy with underrepresented communities to amplify their unique needs. But this isn’t just about averting biases; it’s about being at the forefront of innovation with a proactive stance that delivers substantial return on investment (ROI).
Approaching inclusion as a best practice means building capability and checks and balances across process and product development. Diversity starts with teams, includes users, and building equity as default.
Learn why: UX Teams must embrace Inclusive Design or why a UX Transformation program is a must.
More resources:
See Designing for Equity in Service Design
Learn about Defining the scope of Inclusive Design to include Localization UX