What are some inclusive design best practices for equitable products?

1 Understand your users

One of the key principles of inclusive design is to empathize with your users and understand their context, goals, challenges, and abilities. You can do this by conducting user research, testing, and feedback with a representative sample of your target audience, as well as involving users with different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences throughout the design process. You should also avoid making assumptions or generalizations about your users, and instead, recognize and respect their diversity and individuality.

2 Design for flexibility and adaptability

Another important aspect of inclusive design is to provide multiple ways for your users to interact with your product, and to allow them to customize and adjust it according to their preferences and needs. You can do this by offering different modes of input and output, such as voice, touch, gesture, keyboard, mouse, text, audio, video, and images. You can also provide options for changing the size, color, contrast, font, language, and layout of your product, as well as enabling accessibility features, such as captions, transcripts, subtitles, magnifiers, screen readers, and keyboard shortcuts.

3 Consider the whole user journey

Inclusive design is not only about making your product accessible and usable, but also about creating a positive and meaningful user experience that enhances their satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty. You should consider the whole user journey, from the moment they discover your product, to the moment they use it, to the moment they leave it, and beyond. You should also think about how your product fits into their lives, contexts, and environments, and how it affects their emotions, values, and motivations.

4 Collaborate and co-create with others

Inclusive design is not something you can do alone. You need to collaborate and co-create with other stakeholders, such as developers, testers, marketers, managers, and partners, who can bring different skills, knowledge, and perspectives to the design process. You should also seek feedback and input from experts, advocates, and organizations who work with or represent the groups of users you are designing for, and who can help you identify and address any potential issues, gaps, or opportunities for improvement.

5 Learn and iterate continuously

Inclusive design is not a one-time activity or a final destination. It is an ongoing process of learning and iterating based on your users' feedback, behavior, and needs. You should always test your product with real users in real situations, and measure its impact and outcomes. You should also be open to change and improvement, and be willing to challenge your own assumptions and biases. You should also keep yourself updated on the latest trends, technologies, and best practices in inclusive design, and learn from other examples and case studies.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?