A New Trail of Inspiration at IKEA: A Service for People with Vision Disabilities

Abstract

In an era where digitalisation has revolutionised people’s lives, it is vital to make this transition accessible to everybody, or at least to the many, so that more people may benefit from it. The European Accessibility Act of 2025 (Forum, 2020) is a key stimulus for this, as it mandates organisations to be more inclusive of individuals with disabilities. The retail business is no exception, and as one of the world’s leading retailers, IKEA has stepped up its efforts to address accessibility issues. People with vision disabilities who rely heavily on screen readers, are among its initial customer segments. However, this group is relevant for more reasons than one as revealed by this thesis, the most important of them being- shopping at IKEA is a very visual experience, making it inaccessible to navigate for individuals with any sort of vision disabilities. The project narrows its focus to IKEA stores, where visual elements combine with the physical obstacles of navigating a giant indoor maze for customers with vision disabilities. At the store, these customers interact with various stakeholders like store co-workers, digital co- workers, and other customers. This project thus takes a strategic approach by considering the larger whole that the problem is part of. Through numerous touchpoints with stakeholders, it was revealed that navigation is not a problem specific to IKEA, but is common to other large retailers. What makes IKEA unique however, is that customers visit not only to buy products but also to gather inspiration for their homes and larger life experiences. Thus, IKEA’s 1:1 showroom space becomes a crucial component to allow customers to imagine their dream homes come alive. Unfortunately, this part of the showroom is exclusionary due to its emphasis on visual components. As a result, this thesis reframes the problem: how might we make inspiration at IKEA more accessible for customers with vision disabilities? Despite having a more defined focus, stakeholder group, and problem scope, designing was not easy. To be understandable and successful, design relies greatly on visual skills. However, planning for and working with persons with vision problems required adapting typically visual processes to a non-visual context. This is how the intended intervention, Trails, came to be. It is a service in which sighted customers leave trails of curated home and product inspiration for customers with sight disabilities. The ‘curation’ highlights the most popular or preferred products and home inspiration based on customer reviews and ratings. An audio layer brings Trails to life and guides customers through specific parts of the showroom while advising them on how best to touch and experience the products in those parts, combining audio and tactile communication for people with vision disabilities. After being developed and tested with customers at the context of use- an IKEA store, the desirability and feasibility of the intervention had been established, but its viability remained to be checked. Therefore, discussions with various IKEA teams and blind testing with non-disabled customers took place to ground the intervention further and understand its profitability for a wider audience. Though creating an accessible digital solution would remove barriers for customers with vision disabilities, if their environment remained unwelcoming and hostile, they would still feel devalued and excluded. Ultimately, this project evolved from enhancing accessibility to fostering inclusion at IKEA.