Inclusive Design

Version 19.1 by Haoran Wang on 2022/03/15 11:35

Inclusive design is a design process in which a product, service, or environment is designed to be usable for as many people as possible, particularly groups who are traditionally excluded from being able to use an interface or navigate an environment. Wikipedia

The objective of inclusive design is to make artifacts accessible to and used by as many people as possible in a wide variety of situations. 

For our case, it is necessary to have a universal design that is inclusive to a variety of people that may have different handicaps:

  1. Perceptual
  • Blind
  • Partially sighted
  • Deaf

2. Motor

  • Limited motion
  • No use of limbs
  • Use of mobility assistance

3. Cognitive

  • Dementia
  • Down's Syndrome
  • Autism

Participatory Design

Participatory design means involving users in design from the earliest stages. It can help researchers to interact with patients and develop functions that are neglected from the earlier stages.
Researchers would get a deep understanding of users and their needs so that they can empower users.

SCE and Inclusive Design

In the SCE process, inclusive design is also an important part. There is no generic "disabled user". Creating different personas and scenarios helped us to consider a more robust user.

  1. Personas and scenarios
    Envision diverse users
    2. Design patterns
    Address possible social, cognitive, affective, and physical differences
    3. Evaluation
    Involve diverse users

Our Design

Our design was already made for people with dementia. However, this lecture and the feedback from the presentation of the previous week helped us to consider two more general cases:

Deaf patient

Use of redundant information leveraging both audio and visual channels of communications between Pepper and the PwD

Price

Need to do the maths, because it might be that Pepper's cost averages out.

Different needs

We paid additional details to not make wrong assumptions about our users. By not stereotyping, not patronizing, or stigmatizing the patients.

-> Examples?