Edinburgh Napier University

  It is known that many products are not accessible to large sections of the population since designers instinctively focus on providing the necessary utility for someone matching their own physical and skill capabilities (Cooper, 1999). They are either unaware of the needs of users with different capabilities, or do not know how to accommodate their needs into the design cycle. The aim of this paper is to present a framework for describing those excluded by design and to define measures for evaluating the extent of exclusion, thus allowing the effectiveness of different design approaches to be evaluated. A case study will identify the scale of exclusion and show how important it is to implement a structured approach to the design process. It will illustrate how design choices can exclude large numbers of the population. In addition, it will show that users may be excluded from using a product as a result of decisions made at all stages of the product design cycle. Typical inclusive merit indices for a range of common products will also be presented. These will serve to encourage design improvements, particularly where actual products do not meet the potential of the ideal products.