Breaking down barriers to Inclusive Design

Abstract

Our society is becoming increasingly aware of the necessity of inclusion. However, some individuals are frequently not heard or understood and, therefore, not (yet) included in design projects and designs. Designing inclusively requires a good understanding of the abilities and experiences of a diverse group of people to strive for an inclusive design. This can be achieved when designers partner up with people while considering the full range of human diversity to design for their desired participation in society. Including these individuals in the design process will benefit a much broader audience.

For this project, I researched the context of Inclusive Design activities by Industrial Design Engineering students at Delft Technical University. I studied the perspectives of students regarding their experiences with Inclusive Design projects. Findings reveal that students do not experience Inclusive Design as a learning process. They are afraid to make mistakes and mainly work towards the final design. Additionally, students experience barriers to starting Inclusive Design activities, such as their insecurities, uncertainties, moral aspects, time pressure, and high expectations. To break down these barriers, students express the need for support and information that they can directly apply to feel better prepared for the activities because they would like to work from existing knowledge rather than explore and discover it themselves. While there are tools to support Inclusive Design projects, they do not consist of fixed, predetermined steps that can be followed, which means they cannot be applied literally, and require students to experiment.

To allow students to explore Inclusive Design activities, a safe learning environment has to be created to reduce the barriers. This should ensure that each team member feels safe, supported and comfortable exploring during an Inclusive Design project.

The project’s research and design activities resulted in the co-design of a refocusing of the Master elective Inclusive Design. During my graduation project, an edition of the Inclusive Design elective ran in which several interventions were implemented based on my project findings. These interventions aim to break down barriers to exploring Inclusive Design (activities) by establishing a safe learning environment for students. Additionally, I designed a workbook for students that bundles and serves as a tool to lower the barrier. The workbook provides reflective exercises for students to process information throughout an Inclusive Design project iteratively.