Transcript Universal Design

Universal Design
Universal design is the design of products and
environments to be usable by all people, to the
greatest extent possible, without the need for
adaptation or specialized design.
Consider
Steps
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Its all about the design?
Universal Design
Principles--• Equitable Use
• Flexibility of Use
• Simple and Intuitive
• Perceptible Information
• Tolerance for Error
• Low Physical Effort
• Size and Space for Use
What is Universal Design
• Universal design makes things more accessible,
safer, and convenient for everyone.
• Also called “Design for All” or “Inclusive
Design,” it is a philosophy that can be applied to
policy, design and other practices to make
products, environments and systems function
better for a wider range of people.
Origin
• It developed in response to the diversity of
human populations, their abilities and their
needs.
Examples of universal design
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utensils with larger handles,
curb ramps,
automated doors,
kneeling buses with telescoping ramps,
houses with no-step entries,
closed captioning in televisions, and the
accessibility features incorporated into
computer operating systems and software.
Definition and overview
• The Disability Act 2005 defines Universal
Design, or UD, as: the design and
composition of an environment so that it
may be accessed, understood and used
– to the greatest possible extent,
– in the most independent and natural manner
possible,
– in the widest possible range of situations, and
And
– without the need for adaptation, modification,
assistive devices or specialised solutions, by
any persons of any age or size or having any
particular physical, sensory, mental health or
intellectual ability or disability,
History of UD
Social History
• The 20th Century brought about major social changes with
respect to civil and human rights.
• Medical advances during this period meant that the
likelihood of surviving an injury or illness was far greater.
People were living longer and the average life expectancy
of people with severe impairments was increasing.
• Driven in part by factors such as the large number of
Second World War soldiers returning home with disabling
injuries, the rights and needs of older people and people
with disabilities were brought to the forefront.
Governments responded with the introduction of equal
rights and anti-discrimination legislation.
The Evolving Design Industry (Disabilityspecific design )
• As new laws served to promote social inclusion
and prevent discrimination, pressure was placed
on the design industry to meet the demands of
creating accessible and usable products, services
and environments.
• As the social movements of the 20th Century were
gathering momentum, the design industry
responded with targeted efforts. Concepts such as
barrier-free design, which aspired to remove
barriers for disabled people from the built
environment, appeared
Accessible Design
• The more generalised concept of accessible
design emerged in the 1970s and promoted
the incorporation of accessible solutions
into the general design of products, services
and environments.
Assistive Technology
• At the same time that the mainstream design
industry was evolving, the parallel field of
assistive technology strove to provide more
specialised solutions for people with specific
requirements.
• Add-on products, that could make a formerly
inaccessible product accessible, were more
commonly developed and became more readily
available.
User-centred design and Human
factors
• Of major influence to the development of
Universal Design were design approaches
that considered the needs of users from the
very beginning of the design process.
Multidiscipline field
• Fields such as Human Factors, Ergonomics and
other functional design approaches look at the
physical anatomy and the behaviour of the person
and use this information to create designs that fit.
• These design approaches have been of particular
interest for health and safety reasons, for example
the layout of controls for the operation of
potentially dangerous machinery.
More Recently
• More recently the term user-centred design
is used to describe design that identifies and
addresses the needs, abilities and limitations
of the user.
Design for All
3 levels
• Mainstream products designed according to good Human
factors practice, incorporating considerations for people
with disabilities, that can be used by a broad range of users
• Products that are adaptable to permit the connection of
special devices
• Specially designed or tailored products for more people
with significant access issues
Benefits for Business, Individual
& Society
• People with disabilities benefit because they have greater
access to mainstream products and services that meet their
needs. More affordable products
• Society benefits by reduced costs on very expensive AT
products
• Achieving a higher degree of social equality
Human Centred Design
• The active involvement of users and clear understanding of
user and task requirements
• An appropriate allocation of functions between users and
technology
• The iteration of design solutions
• Interdisciplinary design
ISO 13407 Standard (1999)
• Are easier to use and understand, thus reducing training
and support costs
• Improve user satisfaction and reduce discomfort and stress
• Improve the productivity of users and the operational
efficiency of organisations
• Improved product quality appeals to the users and can
provide a competitive advantage
User Interface
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Strive for Consistency
Enable frequent users to use short cuts
Offer informative feedback
Design dialogues to yield closure
Offer simple error handling
Permit easy reversal of actions
Support internal locus of support
Reduce short term memory load
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(Shneiderman B 1993 Designing the user interface: strive for effective humancomputer interaction. Addison Wesley)
Merging design fields
• Combining and drawing from developments
in all of the above fields, the concept of
Universal Design was introduced.
Two Level Approach
• Universal Design should incorporate a two level
approach:
• User-aware design: pushing the boundaries of
'mainstream' products, services and environments
to include as many people as possible.
• Customisable design: design to minimise the
difficulties of adaptation to particular users.
Benefits and Outcomes
• One immediate result of applying a more accessible,
usable, and user-friendly design was a reduction in the
time it takes for pages to load, with the pages on the new
site taking one quarter of the time.
• Following the launch of the new website, Legal & General
saw an increase of 13,000 visitors to their site each month.
Online sales of insurance products increased by 90%. They
saved £200,000 each year on website maintenance. And
the entire project delivered 100% return-on-investment
within just 12 months.
Principle 1: Equitable Use
The design of a device should be useful and
marketable to people with diverse abilities.
– Provide the same means of use for all users: identical whenever
possible; equivalent when not.
– Avoid segregating or stigmatizing any users.
– Provisions for privacy, security, and safety should be equally
available to all users.
– Make the design appealing to all users
Principle 2: Flexibility of Use
The design accommodates a wide range of
individual preferences and abilities.
- Provide choice in methods of use.
 Accommodate right- or left-handed access and use.
 Facilitate the user's accuracy and precision.
 Provide adaptability to the user's pace.
Principle 3: Simple and Intuitive
Use of the design is easy to understand, regardless
of the user's experience, knowledge, language
skills, or current concentration level.
- Eliminate unnecessary complexity.
 Be consistent with user expectations and intuition.
 Accommodate a wide range of literacy and language skills.
 Arrange information consistent with its importance.
 Provide effective prompting and feedback during and after
task completion.
Principle 4: Perceptible Information
The design communicates necessary information
effectively to the user, regardless of ambient
conditions or the user's sensory abilities.
 Use different modes (pictorial, verbal, tactile) for
redundant presentation of essential information.
 Provide adequate contrast between essential information
and its surroundings.
 Maximize "legibility" of essential information.
 Differentiate elements in ways that can be described (i.e.,
make it easy to give instructions or directions).
 Provide compatibility with a variety of techniques or
devices used by people with sensory limitations.
Principle 5: Tolerance and Error
The design minimizes hazards and the adverse
consequences of accidental or unintended
actions.
- Arrange elements to minimize hazards and errors: most
used elements, most accessible; hazardous elements
eliminated, isolated, or shielded.
 Provide warnings of hazards and errors.
 Provide fail safe features.
 Discourage unconscious action in tasks that require
vigilance.
Principle 6: Low Physical Effort
The design can be used efficiently and
comfortably and with a minimum of
fatigue.
- Allow user to maintain a neutral body position.
 Use reasonable operating forces.
 Minimize repetitive actions.
 Minimize sustained physical effort
Principle 7: Size and Space for Use
Appropriate size and space is provided for
approach, reach, manipulation, and use
regardless of user's body size, posture, or
mobility.
 Provide a clear line of sight to important elements for
any seated or standing user.
 Make reach to all components comfortable for any
seated or standing user.
 Accommodate variations in hand and grip size.
 Provide adequate space for the use of assistive devices
or personal assistance.
A Case Study : The Legal &
General website
• Legal & General, a UK supplier of financial
services, were aware that their website was
not designed to be as accessible and usable
as it could be and in 2005 they undertook to
improve the entire user-experience of their
website.
User Centred Approach
• Taking a user-centred approach, the site
design involved identifying the needs of
customers and existing challenges they
faced when using the old site.
• They evaluated how customers use the site,
using web analytics and relevant software.
Finally,
• They carried out more general research on the needs of
their customers, taking into consideration, for example that
• 3.2 million people in Britain have difficulty using
inaccessible websites;
• 6 million have dyslexia;
• 1 person in 3 is over the age of 50;
• 3 million people speak English as a second language;
• 1.5 million lack basic language skills; and 5.2 million
adults have sub-GCSE level English.
General Benefits
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Better User experience
Greater Number of Users
Greater Participation
Bigger Market
Better Products
Longer Partcipation
Less exclusion
Benefits and Outcomes
• One immediate result of applying a more accessible,
usable, and user-friendly design was a reduction in the
time it takes for pages to load, with the pages on the new
site taking one quarter of the time.
• Following the launch of the new website, Legal & General
saw an increase of 13,000 visitors to their site each month.
Online sales of insurance products increased by 90%. They
saved £200,000 each year on website maintenance. And
the entire project delivered 100% return-on-investment
within just 12 months.
Benefits for Business, Individual
& Society
• Increased potential market
• Increased marketability- by increasing functionality for all
users
• Total Cost Reduction
• Improved market share by improving customer loyalty
• Reduction in hidden costs
• Improved access to the US market
• Potential spin offs
• General population will benefit from more user friendly
products and services +flexibility of new products
Benefits for Business, Individual
& Society
• People with disabilities benefit because they have greater
access to mainstream products and services that meet their
needs. More affordable products
• Society benefits by reduced costs on very expensive AT
products
• Achieving a higher degree of social equality