Inclusive Innovation: are you walking the talk?

My starting point in most things is that people are generally decent. Few people are minded to harm others or hold them back.

Occasionally – unfortunately – we’re reminded those people are out there, and the past week or so that has come tragically to the surface in those awful scenes of rioting across the country. The determined resistance to the emboldened right-wing have been as reassuring as the riots have been horrifying.??

Our humanity relates to the humanity of others regardless of where they are from or their characteristics or experiences.??

I don’t think any of the people I know would intentionally exclude people based on protected characteristics and I am sure that no-one (other than a delusional and misguided few) would proactively seek to disadvantage people who were already marginalised, under-represented or subject to systemic bias.?

It’s not intentional. But it happens: either due to ignorance (I'm sure that despite my best intentions I occasionally say and do the wrong thing) or the time and effort required to properly consider the impact of our words and actions on others.??

Designers have a special kind of responsibility. They have power to reinforce or break systemic bias.?

This is the thorny issue of inclusive design in innovation. Very few reasonable people would deliberating exclude others. Yet it happens routinely.??

I’ve been surprised. The suggestion that we have some way to go on inclusive design often results in defensiveness and dismissal.?

Why is this? My guess is that no-one thinks of themselves as deliberately excluding others from design – I don’t believe for a second that it’s intentional in any way. Rather it’s a systemic, deeply-ingrained issue that will take a long time to unpick. And we need to start somewhere.?

I’d really like to hear from others on this. I get that it can be an uncomfortable idea with which to be confronted. Designers, engineers etc are rightly proud of their work as being fit for purpose in-market. The suggestion that premise is only partially correct might not be altogether welcome.?

But what I’d really like to discover are examples of inclusive innovation. Not just the products and services but the practice and the process. How are people building it into their design processes and practices??

What is inclusive design??

• Inclusive Design is not about designing for everyone. It’s about designing products and services which are accessible to as many people as possible, without the need for specialisation. ?

• Inclusive design extends beyond physical ability and aging to all demographic groups (including but not exclusive to legally protected characteristics).?

• Inclusive design is relevant to all areas of innovation – not just digital interfaces and the built environment.?

• Designing inclusively has benefits beyond catering for the needs of previously under-represented or marginalised groups. Designs that are inclusive often have benefits for majority user groups too.?

It’s absolutely the case that physical abilities should be considered as part of inclusive design – but so should other characteristics. The challenge is in being able to identify the audiences and assumptions which should be considered at the design stage. Retrofitting inclusivity can be awkward and expensive (it can be 10,000 times more expensive to make changes later in the product development process), so getting?the right insights early on?is really the goal.??

What does inclusive design look like??

Teams can make a good start on this by working collaboratively early in the project. That means bringing together designers, engineers, marketers, service delivery colleagues, product leads and whoever else could bring some insight into how this product or service might be used in the market.?

Microsoft has developed a range of really useful tools to help designers in the digital world incorporate inclusive design principles into their work. The focus is predominantly on physical ability, but the work covers mental health, cognitive ability, nationality and race, gender and more.?

Taking that information and looking in more depth at those audiences – via qualitative and quantitative research – can help you to identify areas you might have missed, prioritise the most significant challenges and even create solutions as part of the discovery process.?

The reality is that most – not all, but most – product designers and engineers are still highly educated, able-bodied white men. This is not a criticism of able-bodied white men. But what it tends to mean is that, without intentional inclusive design practices baked in, the experiences of those designers are inevitably the most influential factors in how products and services are designed and brought to market. Again, it’s not deliberate. It’s just a factor of majority.?

The missing link in your strategy and design process

There are obvious benefits to intentionally and methodically engaging with the idea that others will have different perspectives and experiences of whatever you’re designing. Recent research from the Royal Academy of Engineers suggests that inclusive products and services can reach up to four times more target customers, compared to equivalents which aren’t designed for inclusivity.??

Cut this how you like. The same report claims older households were projected to spend ￡550 billion this year; the spending power of disabled people and their families is estimated at ￡274 billion. Women make up half the population. There are around two million people who are gay, lesbian or bisexual. Almost 1 in 5 people in the UK are not white. A sixth of people suffer from arthritis. The same proportion live with a neurological condition. That’s equivalent to the population of London.?

These groups of people and others may or may not have a bearing on how you develop your business’s offering. If you don’t take the time to at least consider them, however, then by default you’re not designing for them. Their perspectives are discounted.?

This isn’t a political argument. It is an ethical argument, but it’s also a simple pragmatism. Businesses need to reach as many people who might buy from them as possible. Public organisations have a duty to engage with the widest possible audience to make sure everyone can access services.??

And if you ask any organisation about this, they’ll tend to agree. Check out any corporate website and it won’t take you long to find a page about the importance of diversity and inclusion. This is really positive and a welcome move towards making the subject visible in the first place.?

But visibility needs to be teamed with behaviour change to achieve anything worthwhile.??

Are you walking the talk?

If you're pioneering true inclusive innovation, I want to hear from you. Share your processes, successes, and challenges—let’s elevate the conversation and learn from each other’s experiences.

Are you walking the talk? Let’s find out together.

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