Designing for All

By Mike Wojtaszewski and Camilla Ribas | Learning Experience Designers

We want to start off by saying that we are no experts on this topic. Instead, we are two designers with and from different backgrounds who have a passion for making accessible, engaging, and sticky learning experiences. We realize the enormity of this topic and its implications. So we asked ourselves—what really is inclusive design? And how is that different from accessibility? And does that cross into user experience? 

Our answer is—it’s all of these things. 

We created a sort of framework to structure how we think about this topic. (Our Type A took over. Who doesn’t love another framework?) We call it the Designing for All Framework. The framework helps guide learning designers to intentionally design learning experiences by considering three different design elements: 

• Inclusivity

• Accessibility 

• User Experience

Think of it as a Venn diagram where the three design elements overlap and support each other. Making intentional inclusive design choices supports user experience and being intentional about how accessible the experience is overlaps with the inclusivity of the experience. So, what’s at the center of the Framework? 

Belonging.

This sense of belonging is fostered through the intentional design choices that we make. We’ll get into this more in a moment. 

Over the next several months, we’ll break down the framework into 3 critical design choices: inclusive design choices, accessibility choices, and user experience choices.  

Why belonging matters 

Have you ever felt like you don’t belong? Exclusion hurts—physically. Even when other’s actions are not overtly exclusive and may even come from a place of good intentions, you can still feel like you don’t belong. When translating this into a learning experience, we find that if we do not ruthlessly and intentionally build a sense of belonging into our learning experiences, we unfairly disadvantage some and advantage others by triggering a biological response. 

Microaggressions are conscious or unconscious slights that can initiate an individual flight-or-fight response. Cognitively, when that response is initiated, the amygdala takes over and bypasses the portion of the brain associated with memory and learning.

The bottom line is, when you feel like you don’t belong, you don’t learn. 

When an individual feels that sense of belonging, they may think “I feel represented. My voice is being heard and valued. Who I am matters.”

Inclusive design 

Inclusive design and belonging go hand in hand. The Inclusive Design Research Centre defines inclusive design as “design that considers the full range of human diversity with respect to ability, language, culture, gender, age and other forms of human difference.” (Source) 

But why do we need to consider diversity when designing? For starters, learning design can have a direct impact on how learners view themselves, their capabilities, and how they are invited to participate in the learning process.  

• Was this solution designed for people like me?

• Do I feel welcomed to share my own perspective?

• Am I just expected to fit in?

• Does this solution respect my beliefs, traditions, or background?

• Am I being supported and set up for success like any other learner?

If you had to answer “no” to one or more of the questions, how would you feel? As Learning Designers, we have the power—or the privilege, dare I say—to be intentional about who is represented, welcomed, and accounted for in the learning solutions we create. Just remember, with great power comes great responsibility. We are ultimately responsible for making sure people feel connected to our solutions. And, in order to do that, we need to constantly question our own assumptions and address any inclusion barriers we create. 

Designing for All is not an organic process. It takes intentionality, planning, and follow through. Above all, it takes accountability from all of those involved in the creative process. Inclusive design is created for and with learners in mind. 

As learning designers at Studio 5, when we make intentional inclusive design choices, we consider the following: 

• Recognize common barriers of those who may not speak English as their primary language. 

• Be cognizant of particular expressions or colloquialisms recognizable only to native speakers. 

• Include a diverse representation of individuals in visual assets such as graphics, videos, motion graphics, etc. 

• Include neutral pronouns, when possible, and avoid gendered language.

• Include representation of different races, ethnicities, and cultural backgrounds.  

• Use international examples and names to avoid US-centricity. 

• Consider how word choice may be perceived by underrepresented individuals or those with diverse abilities. 

Please note, these are just some of the considerations or strategies available when designing for all. Our hope is to provide a starting point for reflection and subsequent action. As a general recommendation, be sure to bring diverse perspectives when planning, designing, and reviewing learning solutions. The more perspectives you bring on, the more likely that diverse voices will be represented. At the end of the day, our goal is to build connection and belonging by avoiding telling a limiting “single story.” 

As we move forward, we’d like to share a few practical strategies that you can adopt today to address any current or future barriers for inclusion in your designs.

Practical Strategies

• Design a cast of characters representing lines of differences such as these characters.

• Write content at an appropriate level. Writing between a 7th to 8th grade reading level will ensure 80% of Americans can read content. If you’re not sure what reading level your content is at, try the Lexile level calculator. 

• Avoid idioms and colloquial expressions. For example: 

  • “To really hit the workshop out of the park, consider . . .”

  • “When providing feedback, do not beat around the bush. Instead . . .”

• When writing stories or scenarios, use various pronouns and gender neutral names. For example: “Dakota is a manager of a distributed team and needs to allocate three new projects to team members. What factors might they consider to equitably allocate the work?”

• Avoid terms and phrases that exclude those of varying abilities. These phrases often show up in directions or cuing. For example, consider other words to replace:

Designing for inclusion requires us to exercise empathy and critical thinking. But it is also about being humble enough to recognize where and when we contribute to inclusion barriers. 

The bottom line is, inclusive design requires that we recognize when exclusion happens, learn from our mistakes, learn from diversity, and make an effort to do better every time.