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Inclusive design

Inclusivity is an important to everyone at AND, we are a diverse group of people and we try to reflect this in the work we create. However, when creating without adopting a user centred design approach, it can be easy to focus on making products and services that cater to a single kind of person at the detriment to others.

It should not always be up to people that face inequality to fix these problems#

We have a moral, social and ethical responsibility to take care of each other. Part of that means ensuring that our work does not exclude people intentionally or otherwise. It also means that when we see things that could be excluding people, we take the time to stop and address these issues.

Remember when we make things better for one kind of user, it usually makes things better for other types of users.

Doing a little is better than doing nothing#

Much like user research, doing a little is way better than doing nothing. Anything we do to make the user journey/task easier to complete can benefit our users. This includes things that may be more obvious such as ensuring there is sufficient contrast between text and background colours, or more nuanced things, such as changing the language we use to help people feel included.

Being selectively inclusive can sometimes make others feel excluded#

Unfortunately some work that we do can do to try and be inclusive can a exclude others. Take for examples something mundane like a asking for a salutation. Putting aside that fact that this is something which is not really need nor something that makes up our legal identity, this is something that is frequently asked for.

When putting a list of options for a user to select we may think 'we should be inclusive and put in options for military titles like Captain or Major. We should also think about doctors, professors and reverends.`

This is great for those people that we have give more options to but worse for those that we have not considered. What, for example would a non-binary person choose? Also think about the message that we are communicating, 'we care about these kinds of people so we give them options, but we do not care about you'. We could try and make things better by including options such as Mx. Pr, Mre or Msr but this does not necessarily fix the problem.

Only ask what you need to know#

A great way to make things more inclusive is by only asking information that we actually need, not information that we want. In the example above the salutation may be used on a letter e.g. 'Dear Mr Wade' but this could easily be changed to 'Dear Kevin'.

Asking less can also shorten user journeys and reduce the user's mental load. It also has the added benefit of supporting our user's privacy. We should push back and encourage our clients to do the same.

Set expectations so that people are in the best position to complete a journey#

Generally speaking it is a good idea to give users an understanding of what to expect when they start a user journey, tell them what information they will need (such as account number) and set expectations around how long this will take. The GOV.UK design system even has a pattern and guidance for these start pages

Use inclusive language#

Do not tell users that they will e.g. "see what they are spending their money on" in a banking app. Instead try something like "Understand what they are spending their money on"

Avoid pronouns such as "he" and "she" by referring to the user as "you".

If you need to refer to the user and another person then use their names, "they" or "them"

Do not use other information to try and guess a pronoun.

Extend or better yet remove time limits#

Whilst an able bodied user might be able to view and select some seating for a gig in 10 minutes, other users might not. Where possible we should remove time limits or at least make them as generous as possible. This way users with physical or neurodiversity needs can at least persist through and complete a journey.

Adapt journeys for screenreaders or display scaling#

We may have made an aesthetically pleasing image that is at the top of the page, but does it help provide context or help people understand the page? If not then hide it from screen readers.

In instances when we use proximity information to convey a relationship, ensure those items are next to each other in code as well so that screenreaders announce this information together.

When users are using display or text scaling, think about how page content may need to be adapted. Does the layout change from horizontal to vertical? Should icons scale with the text size?

General things we can do to make our work more inclusive#

  • Before we can change our language we need to change or thinking. Try and avoid gendered greetings like "hello guys" and try "hello folks" or "hi people" instead.
  • Do not work in isolation, the more people looking at a something, the more views, beliefs and cultures can be represented.
  • Seek out those that are different from you. As people, we can sometimes naturally be drawn to those that share similar opinions/beliefs/values as us but this can create a monoculture. When working or making decisions we should seek out a wide variety of people so that we can understand what is important to different kinds of people.
  • Listen and give everyone an opportunity to talk. It should never be a case of who shouts loudest makes the decisions. Just because someone may be introverted or less comfortable speaking out does not make their opinion any less valid. We need to encourage everyone to voice their opinions and give them different ways of doing that. Be it creating a safe space or anonymously adding post-its to a Miro board.
  • Share what we have learned with your teams and our clients.