Inclusive design; facts

alexandramv
Jan 2, 2016
2 min read

The British Standards Institute (2005) defines inclusive design as:

‘The design of mainstream products and/or services that are accessible to, and usable by, as many people as reasonably possible ... without the need for special adaptation or specialised design.’

CABE published and promoted the principles of inclusive design as it relates to the built environment:

Inclusive – so everyone can use it safely, easily and with dignity
Responsive – taking account of what people say they need and want
Flexible – so different people can use it in different ways
Convenient – so everyone can use it without too much effort or separation
Accommodating for all people, regardless of their age, gender, mobility, ethnicity or circumstances
Welcoming – with no disabling barriers that might exclude some people
Realistic – offering more than one solution to help balance everyone’s needs and recognising that one solution may not work for all

Pyramid showing extended target market for inclusive design

As designers, we aid to the building and development of the world around us. We influence the way a building functions and is functioned, and we decide the amount of detail that is put into this functionality process.

Inclusive design emphasizes the contribution of understanding user diversity, and this fact should direct these decisions, building the design, as much as possible, in a universal language. Ex. A short person must have the same ease to use the finite product just as much as a tall one. A visually impaired man must have the same ease of movement and access around a building as the next man coming in, the one that wears shades inside his office.

Therefore, all advances across the whole set of performance indicators requires understanding diversity within the population and responding to this diversity through inclusive design.