Inclusivity and Diversity in UX Design

One Size does not fit all

The loan and automation industry is on the precipice of disruption. Particularly after the advent of the pandemic, loan companies are forced to adopt solutions that allow them to disburse loans to customers faster and frictionless loan experience and also are vested with the responsibility of making sure that the loan is disbursed to the right customer who has the potential to payback. Government acts like CARES, PPP and CIBIL are being leveraged by many ailing businesses to get loans for either running their business or paying their employees and the expectation is increasingly becoming “Give the loan Now”

Sources of Biases that are generally Ignored in UX design

UX Inclusive design
  • Gender and gender identity
  • Ethnic origin, culture, and nationality
  • Religion
  • Individual cognitive, emotional, psychological, and physical characteristics
  • Sexual orientation
  • External dimensions such as personal life situations or educational background
  • As well as differences in contexts and organizations, such as the workplace
  • diversity in ux design

    Handedness is the most often ignored diversification. How many times do we consider left-handers in UX design whether it is a mobile app or a desktop app? Desktop browsers have buttons on the top right which is not intuitive for a left-hander.

     

    There are many types of color blindness, with the most common three being protanomaly, or reduced sensitivity to red light, deuteranomaly, or reduced sensitivity to green light, and tritanomaly, or reduced sensitivity to blue light. It all comes down to not seeing color clearly or not being able to differentiate between certain colors.

    With that in mind, a rule of thumb for improving UX for color-blind users is to avoid using color as the only visual mean of conveying information.

    diversity in ux design

    Basis of non-inclusive UX design in Business

  • Often the small details are hurtful. Eg., masculine text fonts can make women feel excluded
  • Stock photos with people from specific ethnicity can hurt the sentiments of others
  • Signs or colors depicting political and religious groups is often a big concern
  • The language used can also offend few individuals – E.g. If any instruction sounds like an order
  • Option to select language or missed a language to translate
  • Too many capital letters, multiple colors, and sizes of fonts and text – may feel like scream and noise
  • One person’s image is presented better than another person’s.
  • Missed denomination
  • Adaptable design for aging user
  • Approach

    diversity in ux design

    Conclusion

    Diversity is a great opportunity to design a better digital experience though it is difficult. With the constantly changing social behavior, what is generally accepted today may be perceived as discriminatory tomorrow. With a diverse team, inclusive design, and the right mindset, UX designers can succeed in making the diverse human experience with technology equivalent and fair. Thus, they contribute to making the digital world a little better.

    References

    Author

    Srini Karunakaran
    Srinivasan is a tech-savvy IT services delivery specialist with close to 25 years of demonstrated industry experience. Srinivasan is a strong operations person with extensive experience in Global IT Software development Services delivery, Business Relationship Management, and Operations Management. Srinivasan is highly skilled in strategic planning and has successfully implemented innovative engagement models that drive cost-effective IT services delivery.
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