Universal Design: Not a Specialty, a Requirement
Why designing for everyone should be the standard not an afterthought.
I want to start off by asking you a question. Who do you consider is the most important person to design for and why? Maybe it’s your defined target audience, or perhaps, the crowd you have identified will generate the most revenue from your product or design? We’ll revisit that at the end of this article after you’ve had some time to consider it.
If you clicked on this article, you are probably familiar with the term Universal Design, if not don’t fret, we’ll recap it together. In a nutshell, Universal Design is the idea that products and experiences should be created in a way that promotes universal inclusivity, as well as equal accessibility by all. Universal designs aim to service as many groups as possible regardless of their age, size, or disability (be that permanent, temporary, or situational). Checkout this link from NDA (National Disability Association) for a more detailed definition.
Operating under seven principles, illustrated below (graphic 1b), UD seeks to accommodate and enhance the experience of all groups through singular design that eliminates the need for extra steps or adaptability on behalf of the user. As detailed in the first square of the graphic 1b, atomic doors illustrate this perfectly. This design facilitates the entering and exiting of a location by ensuring that anyone, whether that be someone in a wheelchair or someone with a handful of groceries, can easily operate it. In contrast, a great example of poor universal design is the door knob (graphic 1a), they require ample dexterity and exclude the people who may suffer from arthritis, are temporarily bound to crutches, canes, and the list goes on.
If universal design is so great, why do we need to a term identify it? My answer is that we shouldn’t. As designers, our goal should always be to design with the intention of being as universally inclusive as possible, we shouldn’t need an extra set off guidelines, it should all be part of our design research and implementation process.
As promised before, let’s revisit that question we asked at the beginning of this article. Who is the most important user to design for and why? The answer is… everyone. Our intention as experience architects and solutionist should always be to enhance the lives of all who may come into contact with our designs, not only a segmented group. Design that requires user adaptability is a design that has failed.
What are your thoughts? I’m curious to see if you agree with me, should the term Universal Design exist, or should it simply be considered common practice?
