What is universal design, and why do we need it?
Have you ever had blocked ears because of congestion or air travel? Ever had a hand or a leg fractured? Ever had your eyes dilated? How hard or easy was it to navigate through the basic tasks of life in such cases? Chances are it got harder for you to hear a lecture from the back bench, or you needed help climbing up the stairs, or you had to just take a rest and avoid tasks at all.
Why couldn’t you use the same products and features that you were using? This happens because designers are trained to design for a mythical “average” group of people, but in fact, this group does not exist. Every individual is unique, and as a group, the human species is quite diverse. हम सब विचित्र हैं |
It is possible to design a product or an environment to suit a broad range of users, including children, older adults, people with disabilities, people of a typical size or shape, people who are ill or injured, and people inconvenienced by circumstance. This approach is known as universal design.
Universal design can be defined as the design of products and environments to be usable to the greatest extent possible by people of all ages and abilities. Universal design respects human diversity and promotes inclusion of all people in all activities of life.
Siri is not only a feature of convenience and your fun assistant, but also an accessibility tool. It is a great tool for people with visual and motor disabilities and prevents everyone from experiencing eye fatigue by giving the option of using less screen.
It is unlikely that any product or environment could ever be used by everyone under all conditions. Because of this, it may be more appropriate to consider universal design a process rather than an achievement.
Why am I talking about this today?
We are living in really interesting times. The physical and virtual environments are merging, and being more responsible and inclusive of the society around us will only help us design better products.
While the size of potential customer markets is growing, the diversity of the consumer base is expanding at the same time to include differences in language and culture, customs, experiences, and historical design precedents. All of these increase the need for design that is sensitive to individual abilities and preferences.
Design to include, not segregate.
Building special schools for dyslexic kids is segregation; revising the curriculum or methods of teaching in a way that caters to all kids, including those with learning disabilities, is inclusion.
The main task is to recognize such features that can be commonly provided and are thus less expensive, unlabeled, attractive, and even marketable. For example, an automated reading of this article will not only help the visually impaired but also anybody who wants to hear it instead of reading it.
To summarize, universal design provides a blueprint for maximum inclusion of all people.
A more inclusive design is one that understands all three -
Capabilities,
Limitations, and
Needs of the user.
In my next writing, I will be learning and talking about different spectrums of human abilities.
My goal with this substack is two
To share what I know or have discovered to initiate conversations.
Writing in public motivates me to learn.
Feel free to reach out and discuss the above-written points :)