Inclusive Design for a Digital World

Approach digital design with care, curiosity, and the people most often left out. This book invites you to rethink how we create digital systems, products, and tools, not just to meet accessibility requirements, but to shape a more inclusive future. UX design professor and author Regine Gilbert provides a thoughtful, practical, and global perspective on designing with empathy and intention across websites, apps, games, and emerging technologies like AI, VR, and AR. This expanded edition reflects the rapid evolution of the tech landscape. It features up-to-date guidance on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2), the European Accessibility Act, and international standards. It also explores the intersection of AI and accessibility, examining both the promises and risks of machine learning, automated tools, and algorithmic bias. You'll learn how to ask better questions, challenge assumptions, and design for real human experiences, especially for those historically excluded. Inclusive Design for a Digital World, Second Edition isn't a checklist or a fix-it manual, it's a collection of reflections, case studies, questions, and examples that help you design with more people in mind from the start. Whether you're working on a subway kiosk, an AI chatbot, a learning app, or a video game, inclusive design is about recognizing who's being left out and doing the work to build systems that allow more people to participate, contribute, and belong. What You Will Learn: Apply WCAG 2.2 and understand how to meet international compliance requirements Navigate the European Accessibility Act (EAA) and its implications for digital products Design inclusive experiences for users with visual, motor, auditory, and cognitive disabilities Identify how AI and machine learning impact accessibility and inclusion--both positively and negatively Incorporate assistive technologies into your design and testing workflows Create accessible mobile apps, websites, video games, and immersive experiences like VR and AR Conduct user research and usability testing with diverse participants Build inclusive design systems and content architectures from the ground up Who This Book Is For Designers, developers, researchers, product managers, content strategists, educators, and technologists working to embed inclusion into every phase of the digital product lifecycle, with a special emphasis on those exploring the impact of AI on accessibility.

Approach digital design with care, curiosity, and the people most often left out. This book invites you to rethink how we create digital systems, products, and tools, not just to meet accessibility requirements, but to shape a more inclusive future. UX design professor and author Regine Gilbert provides a thoughtful, practical, and global perspective on designing with empathy and intention across websites, apps, games, and emerging technologies like AI, VR, and AR. This expanded edition reflects the rapid evolution of the tech landscape. It features up-to-date guidance on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2), the European Accessibility Act, and international standards. It also explores the intersection of AI and accessibility, examining both the promises and risks of machine learning, automated tools, and algorithmic bias. You'll learn how to ask better questions, challenge assumptions, and design for real human experiences, especially for those historically excluded. Inclusive Design for a Digital World, Second Edition isn't a checklist or a fix-it manual, it's a collection of reflections, case studies, questions, and examples that help you design with more people in mind from the start. Whether you're working on a subway kiosk, an AI chatbot, a learning app, or a video game, inclusive design is about recognizing who's being left out and doing the work to build systems that allow more people to participate, contribute, and belong. What You Will Learn: Apply WCAG 2.2 and understand how to meet international compliance requirements Navigate the European Accessibility Act (EAA) and its implications for digital products Design inclusive experiences for users with visual, motor, auditory, and cognitive disabilities Identify how AI and machine learning impact accessibility and inclusion--both positively and negatively Incorporate assistive technologies into your design and testing workflows Create accessible mobile apps, websites, video games, and immersive experiences like VR and AR Conduct user research and usability testing with diverse participants Build inclusive design systems and content architectures from the ground up Who This Book Is For Designers, developers, researchers, product managers, content strategists, educators, and technologists working to embed inclusion into every phase of the digital product lifecycle, with a special emphasis on those exploring the impact of AI on accessibility.

What is inclusive design? It is simple. It means that your product has been created with the intention of being accessible to as many different users as possible. For a long time, the concept of accessibility has been limited in terms of only defining physical spaces. However, change is afoot: personal technology now plays a part in the everyday lives of most of us, and thus it is a responsibility for designers of apps, web pages, and more public-facing tech products to make them accessible to all. Our digital era brings progressive ideas and paradigm shifts - but they are only truly progressive if everybody can participate. In Inclusive Design for a Digital World, multiple crucial aspects of technological accessibility are confronted, followed by step-by-step solutions from User Experience Design professor and author Regine Gilbert. Think about every potential user who could be using your product. Could they be visually impaired? Have limited motor skills? Be deaf or hard of hearing? This book addresses a plethora of web accessibility issues that people with disabilities face. Your app might be blocking out an entire sector of the population without you ever intending or realizing it. For example, is your instructional text full of animated words and Emoji icons? This makes it difficult for a user with vision impairment to use an assistive reading device, such as a speech synthesizer, along with your app correctly. In Inclusive Design for a Digital World, Gilbert covers the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 requirements, emerging technologies such as VR and AR, best practices for web development, and more. As a creator in the modern digital era, your aim should be to make products that are inclusive of all people. Technology has, overall, increased connection and information equality around the world. To continue its impact, access and usability of such technology must be made a priority, and there is no better place to get started than Inclusive Design for a Digital World. What You'll Learn The moral, ethical, and high level legal reasons for accessible design Tools and best practices for user research and web developers The different types of designs for disabilities on various platforms Familiarize yourself with web compliance guidelines Test products and usability best practices Understand past innovations and future opportunities for continued improvement Who This Book Is For Practitioners of product design, product development, content, and design can benefit from this book.

What is inclusive design? It is simple. It means that your product has been created with the intention of being accessible to as many different users as possible. For a long time, the concept of accessibility has been limited in terms of only defining physical spaces. However, change is afoot: personal technology now plays a part in the everyday lives of most of us, and thus it is a responsibility for designers of apps, web pages, and more public-facing tech products to make them accessible to all. Our digital era brings progressive ideas and paradigm shifts - but they are only truly progressive if everybody can participate. In Inclusive Design for a Digital World, multiple crucial aspects of technological accessibility are confronted, followed by step-by-step solutions from User Experience Design professor and author Regine Gilbert. Think about every potential user who could be using your product. Could they be visually impaired? Have limited motor skills? Be deaf or hard of hearing? This book addresses a plethora of web accessibility issues that people with disabilities face. Your app might be blocking out an entire sector of the population without you ever intending or realizing it. For example, is your instructional text full of animated words and Emoji icons? This makes it difficult for a user with vision impairment to use an assistive reading device, such as a speech synthesizer, along with your app correctly. In Inclusive Design for a Digital World, Gilbert covers the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 requirements, emerging technologies such as VR and AR, best practices for web development, and more. As a creator in the modern digital era, your aim should be to make products that are inclusive of all people. Technology has, overall, increased connection and information equality around the world. To continue its impact, access and usability of such technology must be made a priority, and there is no better place to get started than Inclusive Design for a Digital World. What You'll Learn The moral, ethical, and high level legal reasons for accessible design Tools and best practices for user research and web developers The different types of designs for disabilities on various platforms Familiarize yourself with web compliance guidelines Test products and usability best practices Understand past innovations and future opportunities for continued improvement Who This Book Is For Practitioners of product design, product development, content, and design can benefit from this book.