Inclusive Design for a Digital World Book Highlights

Early this year, Regine Gilbert released Inclusive Design for a Digital World. From a design perspective, there were a lot of great insights to unpack, so I’d like to share my key takeaways and actionable steps to jump-start your organization on inclusive and accessible design.

In the synopsis, her book reads, “As a modern-day designer in a digital world, your goal should be to make inclusive and accessible products for all people. Technology has, overall, increased connection and information equality around the world. To continue its impact, access and usability of any technology must be made a priority, and there is no better place to get started than Inclusive Design for a Digital World.”

Out of respect to the hard work Regine has put together in authoring this book, this won’t be a cliff-notes set up of highlights because you should go pick up the book yourself, however, In Inclusive Design for a Digital World, Gilbert covers the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 requirements, emerging technologies such as VR and AR, best practices for web development, and more.

Highlights

There are different types of designs for disabilities on various platforms. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to accessibility. Just like we approach designs on web vs desktop there are various levels of native functionalities on platform and context into which people are interacting with these matters.

Accessible design is not only morally and ethically right but there’s a high level of legal reasons. Between 2017 and 2018 the number of lawsuits more than tripled (2,258 from 814). It’s likely that down the line there will be more strict laws that come into play in the past 15 years there have been worldwide advances in legislation to support accessibility compliance.

User experience starts when the project begins. We must shift our thinking about accessibility as a design priority rather than an afterthought.

Planning and implementing inclusive designs. Accessible design should not only start with the design process but also during implementation. Make sure all cross-functional partners are in lock-step and accounted for during your product development lifecycle.

Future opportunities for continued improvement. Designing for inclusiveness lifts all boats. As platforms and tech start to advance, so do our users’ needs. We should be out front when these conversations and shifts start to happen.

Take action

• Ask yourself, is your design accessible to the following disabilities? If not, it’s time to rethink your approach to inclusive design
• Is your organization doing what it takes to be educated on the topic?
• Develop a plan to include accessibility into its product development lifecycle.

Inclusive design shouldn’t be a forcing function due to laws or mandates. If we genuinely want to build empathy into our process, we should be proactive and have more diligence in our processes than just creating a happy path for a single user. Enabling everyone is good business and we should consider how our considerations impact the wellbeing of our population. Companies like Microsoft are leading the way with the Inclusive Design Toolkit and there are a lot of great resources to get started down this journey — this book is a great start to get you a lay of the land.

Closing

Where do you start to make experiences more inclusive and accessible for all users? Join me and Regine Gilbert, author of Inclusive Design for a Digital World, for a live Q&A session this Friday on May 1, 2020, at 2–3 PM PST.

With over 10 years of experience working in the technology industry, Regine will share her experience as a UX designer and professor on how designers can make the world a more inclusive place.

During the LIVE webinar, we’ll chat and take your questions on the process, strategies, and future trends for creating accessible design.

Tune in, get your questions ready and sign up today.