Featuring:
Gina Bhawalkar, Principal Analyst and Senem Biyikli, UX Researcher
Show Notes:
Inclusive design is incredibly valuable to today’s organizations. Discover why and how your business can build more accessible experiences on this episode of What It Means with Principal Analyst Gina Bhawalkar and UX Researcher Senem Biyikli.
Bhawalkar starts by reviewing the financial risks: Ignoring inclusive design means leaving a whopping $5.6 trillion in disposable income on the table. People with disabilities command $1.9 trillion in annual disposable income. For LGBTQ+ individuals, that number exceeds $3.7 trillion.
If you add in friends and family who prefer to shop with brands that consider their loved ones’ needs, you’re looking at a mountain of lost opportunity. If that wasn’t enough financial incentive, consider the rise in accessibility-related lawsuits.
Plus, not only does inclusive design bring in more customers, but it can also help retain valuable staff. Designers are in high demand, and many prefer to work in environments where accessibility best practices are followed.
So, how do you make more inclusive experiences? Bhawalkar and Biyikli recommend you start by evaluating extant design research. Look at a recent project and ask yourself: Whose perspectives influenced the design decisions? You may find that the inputs didn’t come from a group representative of your target audience. For example, maybe no people of color participated in research. This kind of exclusion can lead to disastrous product flaws, a lesson one soap dispenser company learned the hard way.
Scale is a common challenge with inclusive design. Leading companies like Salesforce have instituted processes to ensure products are both inclusive and speedily sent to market. Guidelines and processes for inclusive language are especially critical, as customer-facing content is typically created by a wide variety of departments.
To learn techniques for evaluating your current digital designs, register now for CX North America on June 7–9, 2022.
