{"id":8546,"date":"2020-09-08T10:09:10","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T08:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.codemotion.com\/magazine\/?p=8546"},"modified":"2020-11-09T11:12:52","modified_gmt":"2020-11-09T10:12:52","slug":"inclusive-design-ux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.codemotion.com\/magazine\/frontend\/design-ux\/inclusive-design-ux\/","title":{"rendered":"Inclusive Design and the Value of Emerging Tech in UX"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTable Of Contents\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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  1. Involve a diverse range of end-users in your Design, testing and marketing<\/a>
  2. Go beyond a checklist of accessibility traits\u00a0<\/a>
  3. Don't assume the desires of your end-users are limited to accessibility<\/a>
  4. Out of the box collaborations make great things happen<\/a>
  5. Looking for inclusive design resources?\u00a0<\/a>
  6. Want to launch a developer event despite the challenges of COVID-19?<\/a><\/ol>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\n\n

    At any time, 20% of us will have a disability<\/a>. It may be temporary, situational, or permanent. Inclusive Design<\/span><\/strong> is a methodology<\/span>, born out of digital<\/span> environments, that enables and draws on the full range of human diversity<\/span>. Most importantly, this means including and learning<\/span> from people with a range of perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Improving your product’s accessibility<\/a> can enhance the usability<\/strong> for all users<\/span>, including those with low vision, blindness<\/span>, hearing impairments, cognitive impairments, motor impairments or situational disabilities<\/span> (such as a broken arm). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Inclusive Design<\/span> is about creating technology from websites to platforms, products and devices that can be used by everyone. To do so is an opportunity for creativity<\/span> and innovation. It’s about not only creating new solutions to existing problems but creating new technologies<\/span><\/strong> and the chance to use out of the box thinking that can literally change people’s lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Emerging tech<\/span> offers some fantastic examples that showcase how a myriad of new technologies<\/span> can create innovative solutions to create inclusive Design<\/span>. Let’s take a look at what UX<\/span> designers<\/span> can learn<\/span> from product design<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Involve a diverse range of end-users in your Design, testing and marketing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    We’ll all heard the assertion that people design<\/span> for themselves. Thus, it amazes me when I meet people who design products or even webpages for a cohort with a specific disability<\/span> who have no particular members of their team<\/span> who can represent that cohort<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    They might not have even tested the products with end-users<\/span><\/strong> until late in the prototype<\/span> stage resulting in expensive, time-consuming changes which could have been avoided with earlier efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Fortunately, I’ve also met a startup creating IoT products for aged<\/span> care whose CEO went and lived in an aged<\/span> care facility for a month where he talked to residents about their needs and experiences. Another paid their audience to test their products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Others added a gerontologist to their team<\/span>. While no one person can represent an entire buyer segment, these are all different strategies to design in response to user<\/span> needs. I mention these examples specifically, as they mean that UX<\/span> is not left to a single UX<\/span> designer<\/span><\/strong>, but rather is an active focus throughout the design process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Go beyond a checklist of accessibility traits <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Microsoft<\/span>‘s CEO<\/span>, Satya Nadella is determined to embed accessibility<\/span> and Inclusive Design<\/span> into all their products. Historically, Microsoft<\/span> would apply accessibility<\/span> retrospectively, for example checking against a checklist<\/a>. While it may tick some boxes, it’s an incredibly limited way of thinking as it narrows the possibility of Design<\/span> to what is most convenient rather than what could or should be possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    By embedding inclusive principles into their design phase, Microsoft<\/span> has been able to create a number of fantastic products such as the Xbox<\/span> Adaptive Controller<\/span><\/strong>. Designed<\/span> primarily to meet the needs of gamers<\/span> with limited mobility<\/span>, the Xbox<\/span> Adaptive Controller<\/span> features large programmable buttons<\/span> and connects to external switches, buttons<\/span>, mounts, and joysticks<\/span> to help make gaming<\/span> more accessible<\/span>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Don’t assume the desires of your end-users are limited to accessibility<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

     Have you’ve been following the work of ElonMusk’s Neuralink<\/strong>? It foresees a world where embedded brain-computer interfaces are used in the future in a range of profound ways from the military operating drones to people being able to control a 3D<\/span> avatar of themselves or operate gaming devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I remember interviewing car designer<\/span> Rajshekar Dass, a few years back. He detailed his rationale for a car designed specifically for people with quadriplegia, a cohort of people who until now have only featured in the automated cars<\/strong> of the future as mere passengers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sam Schmidt inspired him, a former Indy Racing League driver<\/span> made paraplegic due to a racing car accident in 2000. Such a design<\/span> was the first of its kind and involved technologies such as movement through brain wave signals, gesture and facial recognition and sensor technology along with augmented reality<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Rajshekar stressed that the car would be completely autonomous in the first instance<\/span>. But over time, the driver<\/span>‘s gestures and motions would be recorded by the car; for example, as the car is taking a right turn, the driver<\/span> might be tilting his head. In this way, the car is learning from the driver<\/span> instead of the driver<\/span> learning from the car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    What’s notable is that if you aimed to create vehicles for people with disabilities<\/span>, you’d no doubt focus on autonomous vehicles, with appropriate doors and seats. But this eschews the opportunity to respond to the real needs to the people you are designing for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When I published the article I received several emails from folks with quadriplegia praising the article, all saying they really missed the joy of driving<\/span>. While any autonomous vehicle of the future may be able to get them where they need to go, it wouldn’t represent what some end-users are really seeking – to revisit their trips behind the wheel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Out of the box collaborations make great things happen<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Robots working in cafes is hardly something new in Japan, but a new pilot aims to offer something truly exceptional. In 2018, partnership<\/span> between robotics startup Ory labs, NPO Nippon Foundation, and airline ANA, created a temporary eatery called Dawn ver.\u03b2.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     <\/a>It was staffed by robots that are operated remotely by paralyzed individuals, who can control the robots from their own homes. The robots were operated by a staff of 10 people, whose conditions range from spinal cord injuries to ALS, with many controlling the robots via eye movement and adaptive technology<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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