Gina Bhawalkar

Principal Analyst

Author Insights

Blog

Generative AI Gets An Upgrade To Business Class With Adobe Firefly

David Truog 7 days ago
Adobe’s new Firefly service is a leap forward in comparison with other generative AI services for images — it’s a Napster-to-Apple inflection point that bodes well for the future of creativity.
Blog

Drive Growth With Digital Accessibility: Best Practices From Three Retailers

Gina Bhawalkar February 16, 2023
With a turbulent and unprecedented current economy, most retailers are trying to shore up revenue wherever they can. One way to do this is through making your company’s websites and mobile apps more accessible. Annually, the disability community has a disposable income of $1.9 trillion and an accessible digital storefront gives you access to this market.
Blog

Design For Empathy To Build Deeper Connections With Your Customers

Gina Bhawalkar January 23, 2023
Empathizing with customers is almost always the first step in design frameworks. Learn how to take the next step and embed empathy into your entire design process.
Blog

You Need A Design System — Here’s Why

Gina Bhawalkar December 12, 2022
Our research shows that the best organizations use a design system to streamline and scale experience design (XD). Learn the benefits of a design system.
Blog

All I Want For Christmas Is An Accessibility Expert

Gina Bhawalkar November 29, 2022
Twenty-seven percent of design teams plan to hire accessibility experts in the next 12 months. Learn what success in the role requires.
Blog

Adopt Inclusive Design Practices That Put Users First This Holiday Season

Senem Guler Biyikli November 22, 2022
Incorporate inclusive design this holiday season by prioritizing digital accessibility, using inclusive language, and showing that you care.
Blog

Design Do’s And Don’ts For Retailers This Holiday Season

Senem Guler Biyikli November 21, 2022
Retailers can improve their websites and boost customer experience this holiday season by applying these tips.
Blog

Five Months Worth Of Takes On The Digital Accessibility Space

Gina Bhawalkar October 6, 2022
Much has happened within a short span of time that signals the growing importance of creating experiences that are accessible to all.
Blog

Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2022: What’s Changed In Our Four Years Covering This Space

Senem Guler Biyikli May 19, 2022
On Global Accessibility Awareness Day this year, learn what’s changed in digital accessibility over the past four years. Read more.
Blog

Get Help With Digital Accessibility: Tips For Selecting An Accessibility Partner

Gina Bhawalkar April 21, 2022
Over the last two years, digital accessibility quickly became a business priority. Forrester has seen a significant increase in inquiries related to accessibility, and more companies are hiring accessibility specialists — an encouraging signal that companies are making investments in this space. This increase is partly driven by the pandemic, which elevated the importance of […]
Blog

Design Leaders Reveal How To Build Inclusive And Diverse Design Teams — And Why That Matters

Senem Guler Biyikli March 28, 2022
Does your organization want to create inclusive experiences for your customers? Are you following an inclusive design process? If the answer to both questions is “yes,” great! But if you’re like most companies we speak with, you’re missing an essential component for creating inclusive experiences: an inclusive and diverse design team. Having such a team […]
Blog

Leave No One Behind This Holiday Season: Use Inclusive Language

Gina Bhawalkar November 11, 2021
Is your site ready to welcome all customers this holiday season? Follow these best practices to apply inclusive language in your customer experience.
Blog

Words Matter: Inclusive Experiences Start With Inclusive Language

Gina Bhawalkar September 13, 2021
Are you creating inclusive experiences for your customers? Many companies aren’t. For example, here’s a sampling of what we heard when we evaluated typical approaches to collecting personal information from consumers: “There is no open box to identify yourself. Ticking ‘other’ is alienating; therefore, if I didn’t identify as male or female, I wouldn’t feel […]
Blog

Digital Accessibility: How $10B In Design Spending Will Soon Be Up For Grabs Annually

Andrew Hogan June 29, 2021
(This blog is coauthored with Gina Bhawalkar.) Accessibility is one of the hottest topics in design. More and more companies are making it a business priority. We wanted to determine how big of a monetary impact accessibility will have on design technology vendors and services companies offering design. Based on our analysis, at least $10 […]
Blog

What’s Wrong With Quick-Fix Products For Digital Accessibility

Gina Bhawalkar May 4, 2021
Update 4/21/22:  For more recent guidance on this category of vendors please see my blog post Get Help With Digital Accessibility: Tips For Selecting An Accessibility Partner. Let’s get straight to the point: There’s no quick fix for making your digital experiences accessible. That’s true even if your approach to accessibility is narrowly focused on […]
Blog

New Research: How To Establish, Scale, And Evolve Your Design Practice

Gina Bhawalkar April 19, 2021
The design industry is booming. Our recent research, “The Design Industry, 2021,” estimates the size of the global design industry to be $162 billion and growing. But the increasing recognition of the importance of design creates a challenge for design leaders: How do you effectively establish, scale, and evolve a high-performing design practice that reliably […]
Blog

Digital Accessibility Enters The Spotlight As A Business Priority

Gina Bhawalkar April 9, 2021
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, in many cases making digital the only channel through which customers could interact with brands, Forrester saw a significant uptick in inquiries related to accessibility, mostly from companies getting serious about accessibility for the first time. The pandemic served as a wake-up call not just about the importance of digital […]
Blog

L’Accessibilité Numérique Devient Une Priorité Pour Les Entreprises

Gina Bhawalkar 9 Avril 2021
La pandémie a servi de signal d'alarme, non seulement sur l'importance de l'accessibilité numérique, mais aussi sur ses avantages. En savoir plus.
Blog

Digital Accessibility Is About Great CX, Not Just Compliance — Takeaways From Deque’s Inaugural Axe-con Conference

Gina Bhawalkar March 29, 2021
I speak with companies weekly about the growing importance of digital accessibility, and prior to 2020, those conversations almost always started with this question: “How do we make our sites and apps accessible so we don’t get sued?” It’s a fair question — after all, the number of web and mobile accessibility lawsuits has increased […]
Blog

L’Inclusion Numérique : Un Enjeu De La Relation Client Au-Delà De La Conformité

Gina Bhawalkar 29 Mars 2021
L'inclusion numérique n'est plus seulement axée sur la conformité mais sur la création d'une excellente expérience client pour tous.
More posts