From Standards to Innovation: Why Inclusive Design Wins
Summary
Did you know that many of the most world-changing innovations of the past century wouldn’t exist, if it wasn’t for designers who thought beyond the average? From the modern internet as we know it, to the billion dollar audiobook market, innovation is driven by designs that solve real problems for real people on the edges, and thus create a more flexible, adaptive, and usable world for everyone. Inclusive design can help you and your team operationalize this sort of innovation, and turn visionary thinking into an every day tool. In this session, you’ll learn: - Why inclusivity unlocks product and design innovation - How to understand The ROI of design inclusion - How to avoid the costly risks of designing only for the averages - How to champion inclusive practices that prepare your organization for the future
Key Insights
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One in four people in the U.S. have a disability, and globally 16% of the population do, representing a $13 trillion untapped market.
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Disability exists on a spectrum: permanent, temporary, and situational, all of which impact user needs and should influence design.
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Designing for the edges automatically ensures a product works better for the average user, while designing just for average users excludes most.
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Historical examples like the typewriter and Siri prove that accessibility-driven innovation benefits all users and drives market growth.
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Ignoring accessibility early leads to costly and ineffective retrofits, potentially costing up to 200 times more than designing inclusively upfront.
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Accessible design features often improve usability and create convenience for wider populations, e.g., speech interfaces, dark mode, and captions.
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Design systems and cross-functional roles position design teams uniquely to embed accessibility throughout product lifecycles and organizations.
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Framing disability as a mismatch between user and environment (social model) instead of a medical problem increases acceptance and inclusion.
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AI trained on average users risks perpetuating past inequalities and inaccessible designs unless inclusivity is prioritized.
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Systematic inclusive design concurrently meets legal compliance and unlocks innovation, improving product quality and user reach.
Notable Quotes
"When we design for the edges, we get the middle for free."
"One in four people in the United States have a disability."
"Designing for the average means designing for nobody."
"If we think about training AI on the average, then what we will get is more of the same."
"Accessibility is innovation and the kinds of features people with disabilities need are incredible conveniences for the rest of us."
"Shifting left means thinking about accessibility before you start writing code."
"It can cost up to 200 times more to remediate and retrofit a solution as opposed to designing it correctly in the first place."
"You own the design system, which gives you the unique ability to integrate that accessibility thinking into all of your components."
"When we build accessibility into an environment, especially if we do it subtly, it becomes the new normal."
"If we think disability as a mismatch between user and environment rather than a medical problem, it becomes easier to understand how accessibility benefits everyone."
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