Inclusive design

Inclusive design is the practice of designing for the full range of human diversity — ability, language, culture, age, context, technology — by recognising that everyone has changing needs and constraints. It's broader than accessibility (which focuses on disability) and upstream of WCAG compliance (which is the technical floor).

The Microsoft Inclusive Design Toolkit is the most-cited framework: design for one, extend to many. Curb cuts (originally for wheelchair users) help parents with prams and travellers with luggage; captions (originally for deaf users) help anyone in a noisy environment. In a design system, inclusive thinking shows up in foundations (high-contrast colour scales, fluid type, motion-reduction respect), component APIs (i18n props, RTL support) and design principles themselves.

Related: Accessible design · WCAG · WAI-ARIA · Design principles · Foundations