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.

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Universal DesignUniversal 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.
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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

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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,

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In relation to electronic systems

• This means any electronics-based process of
  creating products, services or systems so that
  they may be used by any person.

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History of UDSocial 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.

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• The Evolving Design Industry
• Disability-specific 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
• 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.

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• 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Merging design fields

• Combining and drawing from developments in all of
  the above fields, the concept of Universal Design
  was introduced.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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General Benefits

• Better User experience
• Greater Number of Users
• Greater Participation
• Bigger Market
• Better Products
• Longer Partcipation
• Less exclusion

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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.

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Design for All3 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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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User Interface

• 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
• (Shneiderman B 1993 Designing the user interface
  strive for effective human-computer interaction.
  Addison Wesley)