Improving Inclusion in Digital Design Workflows

Inclusive design was first introduced in 1994, with the objective of ensuring that the outcome of a design process addresses the needs of as many people as possible, no matter their age or abilities. However, adoption of inclusive design is still stymied by the similar barriers. Progress has been made through encoding certain aspects of inclusive design in the tools used by digital designers such as UI components in design systems. This paper explores how changes to the digital design workflow and its tools might further the uptake of inclusive design, what barriers still exist that prevent its adoption and how to bridge the gap created by the barriers. The findings show how digital designers are aware of the inclusion challenges they are not addressing and yet the lack of adoption of existing tools that might improve their outcomes