Inclusive Design is a framework created by Microsoft to guide the design of products that take human variability into account from the beginning of the creative process. It prioritizes empathy and a deep understanding of real-world contexts of use, understanding that limitations are not only physical, but also temporal and environmental.
Marc de disseny
Inclusive Design
Create products and services that work for the maximum number of people, including people with permanent, temporary or situational disabilities. The goal is to take advantage of the extremes of diversity to innovate and ensure that solutions are useful and efficient for everyone.
Origin and context
Officially launched in 2015, developed within Microsoft’s design team to improve the inclusivity of its digital products and services, with a focus on design for functional diversity and diverse contextual situations.
Principles
Recognize inclusion as a process , not as a one-time result.
Design for the exception , not the average.
Establish contextual empathy through observation, collaboration, and co-creation
Components
People first: understand people’s real-world usage context.
Recognizing diversity: designing for extreme needs.
Adaptive solutions: making products adaptable to various needs.
Operating guide
It proposes three practical steps:
- Recognizing exclusion: identifying who a design leaves out and why.
- Learning from diversity: exploring the perspectives of people with diverse experiences.
- Solve for one person, extend to many: design from extremes to create broader solutions.
Advantages
- Improve the user experience for everyone, not just specific groups.
- Identify hidden needs through contextual empathetic design.
- It offers a practical and applicable approach from the early stages of the project.
- Scalability: solutions work for a wider audience.
Limitations
- It may seem abstract to teams without prior training: it is not a closed checklist but a conceptual framework.
- It depends on the team’s involvement to apply it rigorously and effectively.
To take into account
Although it does not directly talk about a gender perspective, it is the closest thing to Femframe’s vision. The creation of technology from people and, moreover, from the most diverse people. In this way, brilliant results are achieved.
The concept of contextual empathy is very important, since we don’t “imagine” how the other person might feel or need. We experience it with the person.
We also find a lot of material, very well designed and that facilitates the adoption of this type of thinking.
Documentation
Inclusive Design Toolkit (Microsoft): https://www.microsoft.com/design/inclusive/
Including: The Film | Microsoft Inclusive Design “If you start with a technology, it becomes a list of features. But if you start with a person, something incredible happens, that she dictates the technology.”
Practical examples
Xbox Adaptive Controller: initially designed for gamers with motor disabilities, but also useful for other profiles.
Interfaces that consider environmental conditions: such as voice interfaces designed to be used in noisy environments.
Improved contrast and text size for users with low vision or adverse environmental situations (direct sunlight).