Comment: Five top tips for inclusive product design

Facial recognition is often inaccurate for black women, for example, soap dispensers do not always recognise black customers' hands, some heart rate monitors work only on light-coloured skin, the colour contrast of some websites prevents accessibility – and so much more.

In a world where brand loyalty can be dramatically affected by the perception of shared values, no company can afford to exclude. Inclusive design creates products that are built for all people from the outset, not as an afterthought. It’s about understanding and empathising with users from all backgrounds and abilities – and building those needs into the design. Here are some tips for inclusive product design:

Know your numbers

Before entering the empathise phase of your design, you need to know the diversity profile of your users. For example, if your product is designed for people who live in Leeds, then you need to understand the diversity profile of Leeds to truly understand who your product is for. Or if your product is for people who charge electric cars, you need to know the diversity profile of electric car drivers.  Only then can you know if you are meeting the needs of all users.

Research the diverse needs of your users

Inclusive design puts real people’s needs at the centre of a design. That means during the empathise phase of your design you need to talk to people who represent the diversity of your target market. It must be a representative sample of those users – not, for example, only men who use electric cars or only neurotypical people who live in Leeds. When assessing the needs of those different users, it is important to do so inclusively – having true empathy for their experiences and removing your own biases from the equation.

Ensure psychological safety during the creative process

To address the diverse needs that you have uncovered, you need different – and perhaps unconventional – ideas. To ensure those ideas have space to form, be heard and progressed, there must be psychological safety for all team members, not just those who have louder voices or the most experience. That means all team members must feel safe to take risks, make mistakes and challenge each other's ideas. Imagine there is a new team member who speaks up for the first time but goes unheard or is minimised by others, when they next have the idea that is the solution, will they feel safe enough to raise it?

Ensure that you test your product with diverse users

Just as with your empathise phase, the users who test your product or prototype need to be representative of your end-user profile. And, just as when creating safety for your team to challenge and speak up, it’s vital that your test process is inclusive. For example, if you’re using a survey, is that survey accessible? If you are using focus groups, are there inclusive ground rules? Don’t forget, if your company has employee resource groups, you may have an internal resource that can enable you to reach diverse users to test your product.

Have inclusive design standards – as standard

To ensure that inclusive design becomes embedded, it should be clear that it is a vital part of your design and implementation process. Just as if your product hasn’t met safety standards, if your product hasn’t met inclusion standards, it should not be able to move forward. By doing so, your products will likely be better for all your users, not just those with diverse needs. For example, Microsoft is known for its inclusive design standards and accessibility features. The result is products that are not only more inclusive, but easier for all users.

Throughout all your design process, diversity and inclusion are vital. Having diverse perspectives and voices within your organisation will enable you to better understand diverse user needs from the outset, and inclusion will ensure the diverse perspectives of your team and your users are heard – and met.

Eleanor Goichman Brett, a global inclusion consultant at GP Strategies