How inclusive methods can build elegant design solutions that work for all.
How inclusive methods can build elegant design solutions that work for all.Sometimes designed objects reject their users- a computer mouse that doesn't work for left-handed people, for example, or a touchscreen payment system that only works for people who read English phrases, have 20/20 vision, and use a credit card. Something as simple as color choices can render a product unusable for millions. These mismatches are the building blocks of exclusion. In Mismatch, Kat Holmes describes how design can lead to exclusion, and how design can also remedy exclusion. Inclusive design methods-designing objects with rather than for excluded users-can create elegant solutions that work well and benefit all.
Holmes tells stories of pioneers of inclusive design, many of whom were drawn to work on inclusion because of their own experiences of exclusion. A gamer and designer who depends on voice recognition shows Holmes his "Wall of Exclusion," which displays dozens of game controllers that require two hands to operate; an architect shares her firsthand knowledge of how design can fail communities, gleaned from growing up in Detroit's housing projects; an astronomer who began to lose her eyesight adapts a technique called "sonification" so she can "listen" to the stars.
Designing for inclusion is not a feel-good sideline. Holmes shows how inclusion can be a source of innovation and growth, especially for digital technologies. It can be a catalyst for creativity and a boost for the bottom line as a customer base expands. And each time we remedy a mismatched interaction, we create an opportunity for more people to contribute to society in meaningful ways.
How inclusive methods can build elegant design solutions that work for all.
How inclusive methods can build elegant design solutions that work for all.Sometimes designed objects reject their users- a computer mouse that doesn't work for left-handed people, for example, or a touchscreen payment system that only works for people who read English phrases, have 20/20 vision, and use a credit card. Something as simple as color choices can render a product unusable for millions. These mismatches are the building blocks of exclusion. In Mismatch, Kat Holmes describes how design can lead to exclusion, and how design can also remedy exclusion. Inclusive design methods-designing objects with rather than for excluded users-can create elegant solutions that work well and benefit all.
Holmes tells stories of pioneers of inclusive design, many of whom were drawn to work on inclusion because of their own experiences of exclusion. A gamer and designer who depends on voice recognition shows Holmes his "Wall of Exclusion," which displays dozens of game controllers that require two hands to operate; an architect shares her firsthand knowledge of how design can fail communities, gleaned from growing up in Detroit's housing projects; an astronomer who began to lose her eyesight adapts a technique called "sonification" so she can "listen" to the stars.
Designing for inclusion is not a feel-good sideline. Holmes shows how inclusion can be a source of innovation and growth, especially for digital technologies. It can be a catalyst for creativity and a boost for the bottom line as a customer base expands. And each time we remedy a mismatched interaction, we create an opportunity for more people to contribute to society in meaningful ways.
How inclusive methods can build elegant design solutions that
work for all.
Foreword
CH 1Welcome
CH 2Shut In, Shut Out
CH 3The Cycle of Exclusion
CH 4Inclusive Designers
CH 5With and For
CH 6Matchmaking
CH 7There's No Such Thing as Normal
CH 8Love Stories
CH 9Inclusion is Designing the Future
Notes
Suggested Readings
Acknowledgements
Index
Kat Holmes, named one of Fast Company's "Most Creative People in
Business" in 2017, is founder of Mismatch.design, a firm with the
mission of advancing inclusive education and resources. She served
as the Principal Director of Inclusive Design at Microsoft from
2014 to 2017, and led that company's executive program for
inclusive product innovation. As an executive at Google and,
currently, Salesforce, Holmes continues to advance inclusive
development for some of the most influential technologies in the
world.
An internationally recognized leader at the intersection of design
and technology, John Maeda is Executive Vice President/Chief
Experience Officer at Publicis Sapient. He was the 16th President
of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). He is the author of
Design by Numbers, The Laws of Simplicity, and Redesigning
Leadership, all published by The MIT Press.
"Kat Holmes shows us how to make inclusion a source of innovation.
An important read for anyone who aspires to build great products
for the greatest number of people." – Satya Nadella, CEO,
Microsoft
"Design shapes our human experience. As software changes our world,
inclusive thoughtful design will be even more important. In this
absorbing and important book, Kat Holmes lays out clear steps and
the role we can each play to overcome bias and create inclusive
design." – Victoria A. Espinel, CEO of BSA | The Software
Alliance
"Kat Holmes’s approachable book, Mismatch, calls to tech industry
leaders and designers to create inclusion by making a world that
invites all of us to participate and benefits everyone. Designing
for the future, Holmes convinces, requires designing for human
diversity. Mismatch is a manifesto, a primer, and a rousing
invitation for everyone in the design and production process to
become inclusion experts who will collectively make a better, more
effective, and more just world for us to share." – Rosemarie
Garland-Thomson, Professor of English and Bioethics at Emory
University, author of Extraordinary Bodies and Staring: How We
Look
"Design at its best gladdens our lives, and shapes the way we
experience the world — but it can limit that experience, too.
Counters may be too elevated for someone in a wheelchair, and
playgrounds built solely for able-bodied children a trial for those
who can neither run nor climb. Even a magical faucet, built to flow
at the wave of a hand, is ill suited for the blind. In Mismatch, a
crusading and important look at how design can frustrate and even
alienate users, Kat Holmes compels us to be more inclusive. She
shows us that design requires not only ingenuity but humility. It
must solve problems, yes, but it must also work with those excluded
to reimagine and improve their experiences." – Caroline Baumann,
Director, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
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