MANAGING TECHNOLOGY
One for all
A toolkit for designers aims to ensure that products can be used by
people with a wide range of abilities, says John Clarkson
HAVE YOU ever got lost in the menu system of
a technical product, or had difficulty plugging
a cable into the back of your television?
Have you struggled to pull the ‘pull tab’
on a packet of ham, or to open tough
plastic packaging? If so, you are not alone.
These are just a few examples of products
that are challenging to use, even for people
who are relatively young and fit. Just imagine
how frustrating they would be for people who
are older or have disabilities.
In the UK, 8.6 million people are registered
disabled, and by 2020 it is estimated that half of
the adult population will be over 50. Older and
disabled people present an important, growing
and lucrative market. Yet their needs are
often overlooked by younger and fitter
designers.
Failing to account for this diversity in
customers’ ability levels and experience can
result in products that are unnecessarily
frustrating, difficult or even impossible to use
by large sections of the population.
In response, recent design research has
developed a range of approaches to help
companies produce more accessible
mainstream products, such as Inclusive
Design, Universal Design and Design for All.
These have slightly different emphases, but
they all encourage consideration of the needs
of a wider range of users.
Also, a large number of methods have been
developed to help designers better understand
their customers and keep their needs in mind
during the design process. Some of these, such
as focus groups and observations, involve
users directly in the design process. Others,
such as personas and simulation exercises,
help designers to consider, understand
and empathise with users without direct
contact.
There has been some adoption of these
approaches and methods within commercial
practice, yet their implementation is often
sporadic and limited. Commonly cited
barriers to designing more inclusively are:
insufficient time, budget or resources, a lack of
practical knowledge and tools to support it, and
the perception that there is no justifiable
business case for it.
To address these barriers, the Engineering
Design Centre (EDC) at Cambridge University
42
has developed an inclusive design toolkit
(www.inclusivedesigntoolkit.com). This freely
available online resource lays out the business
case for inclusive design, then explains how it
can be promoted within an organisation and
integrated into a typical commercial product
development process. Discovering the needs of
the user and the business forms the foundation
of this process.
Other sections contain detailed information
on users’ capabilities and show how better
design can ensure an enhanced product
experience for a diverse range of abilities,
including those who are fully able and those
with capability loss.
The website also contains a range of
tools to help designers understand and engage
with users, particularly those with reduced
capabilities.
It includes a family of character descrip-
tions, constructed to cover a wide range of
people, with different wants, needs, social
contexts and capability levels. These help
designers consider and keep in mind the real
people behind the facts and figures on popula-
tion diversity.
The ‘links and resources’ section contains
an ‘exclusion calculator’ that can evaluate
how many UK adults would be excluded
from using a particular design, according to
the demands it places on seven key user
capabilities.
Another type of tool is simulation, which
gives designers an insight into capability loss
by allowing them to experience some of its
functional effects for themselves. The EDC has
produced sets of special glasses, gloves and
other equipment that reduce the wearer’s
vision and movement capabilities.
Simulation software demonstrates the
main functional effects of common vision and
hearing impairments on image and sound
files, thus helping designers understand how
these impairments affect the use of everyday
products. Designers can also view photographs
of their own concepts with simulated
impairment, to help identify difficulties and
potential improvements.
The case for inclusive design is compelling,
yet companies often struggle to put it into
practice. The inclusive design toolkit presents
a practical and useful resource to address this
gap and has been used effectively by both
designers and design students to help support
the inclusive design process.
John Clarkson, director, Engineering Design
Centre, Cambridge University, with Joy
Goodman-Deane and Sam Waller, research
associates
the EnGIneeR 30 JUNE–13 JULY 2008
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