The Centre for Inclusive Design launch a new report revealing how inclusive design can expand customer reach
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In May 2019 the Centre for Inclusive Design, in partnership with Microsoft and Adobe, launched a new report entitled ‘The Benefit of Designing for Everyone’. The report focuses on new research which supports the importance of designing for everyone from a business perspective. The research shows how; when designing with the needs of people experiencing poverty, disability or the effects of aging in mind, the reach of the products and services can be four times greater than and can have an impact on the bottom-line of an organisation.
The report was conducted by PwC in Australia and it found that people who experience difficulty in accessing or using products and services are regularly left out or not considered during the design process. The research found that this resulted in the disregard for a large percentage of the country’s population and may have costly consequences over time in the retrofitting of the same product and services in order to make them more accessible post design compared to including Inclusive Design earlier on in the process.
It is estimated up to 5 million Australians are unable to access products and services due to the lack of consideration for Inclusive Design. This sector of society include older people and people living with a disability who possess over $40 billion in annual disposable income.
The three key industries in Australia that could benefit from implementing Inclusive Design, and in turn stimulate financial, economic and social improvements, are retail, education and financial services. Within retail a potential estimated increase of $4 billion in revenue could be achieved from better designed products and services; In education 228,000 additional qualifications could be earned increasing employment and salary opportunities by $4.5 billion annually; and 830,000 Australians could experience improved financial capacity and capability with inclusively designed financial services.
For more information from the Centre for Inclusive Design and to download the PDF version of the report click here.
If you require further information on the inclusive design of products and services or have any general queries on accessibility and Universal Design, we would be delighted to help. You can contact a member of our team on (01) 415 12 85 or e-mail [email protected].
