Strategic inclusive design
How do you enable your organization to practice more inclusive design? Strategic inclusive design is about the purposeful implementation and application of inclusive design aligned with business goals.
What is strategic inclusive design
Strategic inclusive design is all about being aware of what inclusive design is going to achieve for your organization and how to make this happen. Strategic inclusive design have to be aligned with other business goals of the organization.
Strategic inclusive design is the purposeful implementation and application of inclusive design aligned with business goals. If an organisation is committed to Diversity, equity and Inclusion (DEI), their products and services also need to be inclusive.
Inclusive design and DEI
Until now, there are only a handful organization in Norway that have truly embraced inclusive design. On the other hand, most organization have DEI high on their priority list. DEI is a term used of policies and programs that promote the representation and participation of various groups of people. While traditionally DEI has been focused on hiring processes and company culture, more and more people start to realize the external aspect and its potential. This is where inclusive design comes in: Integrating DEI principles into your design processes to ensure inclusive products and services.
Strategic inclusive design process
DOGA has developed a three step process for strategic inclusive design including supporting tools
1. Assess
The first step is about orientation. Test and scrore your organisation on the status of inclusive design within the parametres of Products & services, Design process, Design team and Company culture.
Test yourself: Inclusive design assessment tool
The assessment tool is based on a strategic inclusive design framework, a visual overview of the building blocks of inclusive design. The framwork enables you to create a better understanding of what inclusive design consist of and what to pay attention to in order to improve your inclusive design practices.
Read about the strategic inclusive design framework
2. Focus
The second step is about targeting areas where your organisation can have the most impact. These areas can be identified by combining the outcomes of the assessment (step 1) with your organisational resources and capabilities, business goals and needs of your employees and customers.
3. Change management
The third step is about making the necessary changes in your organisation. What are the needed calls to action, strategic alignment, whitespread support, success criteria, creation of momentum and establishing of structures in order to succeed?
How to supplement the skills of the design leaders and senior designers with a solid process based on change management theory to systematically drive change that lasts.
Let the strategic inclusive design change guide help you set direction.