Uncover the benefits of inclusive design for your brand and users and discover the top brands leading the way.
SUMMARISE WITH:
Creating products that can be enjoyed by everybody is a goal many brands claim to aspire for. Why? Because when a digital or physical product meets the needs of a wide variety of individuals, the overall user experience for everybody is enriched. Brands can market to a larger audience, and businesses can be sure they are complying with accessibility legislation.
However, creating fully inclusive designs involves more than just offering a multilingual landing page or different types of payment options. While these are both great examples of how to make a design more inclusive, users are increasingly seeking digital and physical products that reflect and welcome their varied experiences and backgrounds via the brand’s content, visual design, customer support, and technical assistance.
In this article, we run through what inclusive design is, why it's crucial to successful product design, and the best practices for implementing it in your design process. We also outline the work of three leading brands in inclusivity–Fenty Beauty, Shopify, and Headspace– to help inspire your approach to product and service development.
Contents:
- What is inclusive design?
- Inclusive design v/s accessible design
- Why is inclusive design important in product design?
- 3 top examples of inclusive design in 2026
- Best practices for inclusive design
- Conclusion
What is inclusive design?
Inclusive design refers to the process of creating products or services that are accessible and usable by the widest possible audience. This approach is crucial because when a product can be accessed and enjoyed by more people, its potential user base expands significantly.
Inclusive design involves making informed decisions based on data and a deep understanding of the diverse backgrounds and abilities of users. It takes into account differences in capabilities, needs, and goals to ensure the product meets the widest range of user requirements.
The goal of inclusive design is to follow methodologies and processes that result in products that everyone, regardless of background or ability, can enjoy. Factors such as age, culture, socio-economic status, education, gender, geolocation, language, race, and accessibility must be considered during the design process to meet the needs of as many users as possible.
At the heart of inclusive design is empathy.
Designers who genuinely understand what their users need and desire are better positioned to create products and interfaces that accommodate the full spectrum of human diversity. In simple terms, inclusive design ensures that more users feel seen, valued, and included, which builds trust and encourages loyalty. This is especially important for users who are often overlooked or marginalized in other contexts.
What’s the difference between inclusive design and accessible design?
While the terms “inclusive design” and “accessible design” are sometimes erroneously used interchangeably, they have quite different meanings. While inclusive design seeks to fulfil as many user needs as possible by looking at the broad spectrum of human diversity, accessible design is concerned with the needs of users with specific disabilities and finding appropriate solutions that effectively meet those needs. However, there is significant crossover between the two fields of design as when inclusive design principles are incorporated, the result is often an accessible design that can be enjoyed by those with disabilities or challenges, too. It can be helpful to think of inclusive design as an umbrella term under which accessible design falls. Inclusive design seeks to incorporate differing perspectives into the design process, and these frequently include the perspectives of those with disabilities and/or impairments.
Why is inclusive design important in product design?
There are four main areas where the importance of inclusive design comes to the fore: the user experience, market share, ethical standards, and legal compliance.
1. The user experience
When a design team adopts an inclusive approach to their design process, users of every background and ability notice an improvement in overall usability. In fact, in a report produced by The Centre for Inclusive Design, it was revealed that the intended audience that benefits from a product or service increases by 3 to 4 times thanks to an inclusive design approach.
This is because inclusive design principles naturally inform products that are more intuitive for everyone. User confusion and frustration are also reduced because when more diverse user needs are catered to, human-to-computer interactions become smoother overall.
2. Market share and audience reach
An inclusive product design ensures that those with accessibility challenges or disabilities can enjoy the product or service as much as everyone else. In addition, those of different backgrounds, cultural experiences, education, ages, and languages have their needs considered and met. When a product is designed for a diverse range of users such as these, a brand can reach broader audiences and tap into larger markets, increasing its authority in the field, building brand recognition in new locations, and boosting sales. Indeed, a study by Accenture found that organizations that prioritize inclusive design outperformed their peers by 70% when it came to financial performance.
3. Ethical standards
Products designed to be fully inclusive ensure that everyone has the right to participate fully in society, irrespective of their abilities or background. When businesses demonstrate their inclusive approach, they are signaling their commitment to a more equitable society in which everyone can take part. This helps to build trust and loyalty with customers and cement a brand reputation that stands for fairness and equality of opportunity. A study by UN Women shows that inclusive advertising campaigns boost customer loyalty by 15%.
4. Legal compliance
Finally, inclusive design helps businesses to effortlessly comply with the digital accessibility regulations that are stipulated in many countries across the world. Not only does this enable a firm to avoid fines or prosecution at a state level, but it also ensures that they do not violate the accessibility rights of their customers or get targeted with individual complaints or lawsuits.
3 top examples of inclusive design in 2026
1. Fenty Beauty
Created and owned by Rihanna, cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty is often cited as a leading example of embracing diversity in the beauty industry, thanks to its inclusive approach that reaches across product lines, marketing campaigns, and advertising. Examples include its wide range of product lines for different skin tones and types, gender-fluid marketing, use of models of minority ethnic heritage in their advertisements, and partnering with transgender models and influencers on social media. In fact, so successful was Fenty at providing targeted messaging and products for consumers of different skin colors that other big-name brands such as L’Oreal quickly sought to emulate its success soon after the first product line was released with their ad campaigns aimed specifically at women of color.
Breakdown of how Fenty Beauty embraces inclusivity:
- Fenty Beauty works with campaign models who represent a diverse range of skin tones, ethnicities, body types, and identities.
- The brand offers 50 different shades of foundation, ensuring every customer finds the tone that is right for their skin (particularly for typically underserved groups).
- Across social media channels, the brand uses colloquial terminology, making it more approachable to a wide range of people from various backgrounds.
- A gender-neutral approach ensures everybody is welcome to enjoy Fenty products.
- Online, the brand provides an accessible shopping experience for people with disabilities, offering clear navigation, screen reader compatibility, and optimized content.
2. Shopify
Shopify, the e-commerce platform that allows businesses to sell products online and in person, has worked hard to make the experience of entrepreneurs and businesses on its site as inclusive as possible. While the site supports accessibility by offering screen reader support, keyboard navigation, and tools designed for all skill levels, they have invested significant time and energy into the visual design of the site, too. They’ve done this to ensure that all users see a version of themselves in the illustrations and photographs used in their campaigns and feel included. These inspiring images show users that those from all backgrounds, countries, genders, and ages can become entrepreneurs with Shopify, enabling the brand to connect with a more international and diverse audience and motivating them to succeed with the platform.
Breakdown of how Shopify embraces inclusivity:
- The platform is fully aligned with web accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1), enabling those with disabilities to enjoy all of its features in the same ways that those without disabilities do.
- The brand offers multilingual support and customization, embracing users from around the world and enabling them to operate in their preferred language.
- Shopify supports underserved communities in the entrepreneurial world by offering resources, mentorship, and financial assistance to groups including women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, and those with disabilities via its "Shopify Equal Opportunity Program".
- In its visual branding, Shopify celebrates diverse creators and influencers from different backgrounds, highlighting their successes to inspire others.
- By enabling fully customizable stores, Shopify supports users in creating businesses that are themselves visually inclusive and culturally appropriate in the target countries of their users.
3. Headspace
Named a 2024 Best Place to Work for Disability and Inclusion by the Disability Equality Index (DEI) for its efforts in creating a workplace where everyone can thrive, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Headspace’s approach to product design and user experience is equally inclusive. The company conducts ongoing assessments to measure the accessibility and inclusivity of its products and services, making improvements such as introducing haptic feedback for visually-impaired users, text scaling, support for all screen widths, and in-app content highlighting accessibility and inclusivity topics.
The brand’s blog regularly covers subjects addressing inclusivity- such as ‘“Mindful ways to use personal pronouns and inclusive language”- while the app offers numerous meditations based on different cultural traditions. Content on the app regularly seeks to offer support that addresses the unique needs and challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community. Perhaps the most notable way in which Headspace provides an inclusive experience is in the customization opportunities provided in its meditation exercises; users can choose from a range of different voices, accents, and backgrounds to find a meditation that aligns with their own identity and meets their specific preferences.
Breakdown of how Headspace embraces inclusivity:
- Headspace is committed to ongoing evaluations into the accessibility and inclusiveness of its products and services.
- The app uses a wide range of voices and accents in its meditation exercises.
- In-app meditations are inspired by a variety of global and cultural traditions.
- The written and audio content on the website and app cover numerous inclusivity topics.
- The brand offers general meditation and mindfulness content that serves neurotypical and neurodivergent user needs.
- The brand has a commitment to producing digital products that everyone can access and enjoy, irrespective of visual, auditory, cognitive, and/or motor abilities
- The company provides users with support from a care team that consists of individuals from varying backgrounds and with different identities.
- The visual design of the app consists of unique characters and animations that connect with users emotionally and demonstrate each person’s individual uniqueness while also ensuring each character is relatable to everyone.
- Every color, shape, and line in the app’s design was created to be free-flowing, making the whole digital experience feel more inclusive for users. Symbolism, colors, and emphasis are also used to reflect strong emotional reactions, helping users feel like their experience is understood.
Best practices for inclusive design
How do you create a fully inclusive design that all users can use and enjoy? These steps ensure you have the right foundations and principles in place.
1. Hire a diverse team
It may seem like obvious advice, but you’d be surprised how many companies overlook the diversity of their team when designing products and services and then still expect to meet the needs of all users. Without hearing the varied perspectives of those with different experiences to your own, creating an inclusive product doesn’t just become harder, it becomes almost impossible. Instead, focus on hiring talent with a range of voices, experiences, backgrounds, and beliefs into your teams. You’ll soon find out how inclusive your product really is and quickly learn how to make it meet a much more diverse set of needs. This is no substitute for extensive user research, of course, but your starting position is already much more well-rounded, leaving you with less work to do later.
2. Prioritize accessibility
As we’ve seen, accessibility and inclusivity are not the same thing. While inclusivity refers to crafting products that reflect the experiences and meet the needs of all users, accessibility is specifically concerned with the creation of products and services that those with disabilities or challenges can use and enjoy. Before you begin to address the inclusivity of your product, it’s crucial that you first ensure it is fully accessible to everyone and prioritize it in the initial planning stages of the design. Designing for accessibility first is important as the technical implementations you may need to make to create a fully accessible product are likely to be more difficult to put in place once the final design has been decided upon.
To prioritize accessibility in your design process, we’d suggest:
- Educating the design team on the importance of accessibility, both from the perspective of the user with accessibility needs, but also from a financial, legal, and general user experience perspective.
- For digital products, follow WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) as well as any region-specific accessibility laws and regulations.
- Adopt accessibility principles:
- Clear and consistent navigation
- Accessible color schemes
- Legible fonts and font sizes
- Build in assistive technologies, for example, compatibility with screen readers.
- Offer extensive user customization opportunities, allowing users to tweak their digital experience to meet specific needs.
- Test your product with people who have a variety of disabilities (e.g., visual, auditory, cognitive, motor)
3. Test with real users
Whatever your approach or preference, testing is an undeniably crucial aspect of the design process that cannot, under any circumstances, be ignored. However, when it comes to inclusive design, testing is even more valuable. This is because it is simply not possible for the design team to know, understand, or empathize with the user experience of all of their possible users without directly asking or observing them. Although it won’t be possible to ask every single user what they think of your product, by bringing together a diverse group of people, you’ll get close to understanding the user experience from as many different angles as possible.
Conclusion
We hope you’ve enjoyed our run-through of inclusive design and the brands leading the way with their inclusive digital and physical products. While there is a strong moral argument for building products that are fully inclusive, as we have seen, there are numerous financial and legal incentives to following this approach, too.
Going forward, inclusivity is likely to become even more of a differentiator between brands, as users opt for experiences that align more closely with their own identities, speak their language, and meet their needs. By designing for a diverse audience, brands demonstrate their commitment to building sincere customer relationships that recognize the unique needs of their users while enriching the user experience for everyone who uses their products and services.
Next Steps
If you’d like to read more about design, head back to the AND Academy Design Blog. We also recommend checking out this project by AND Learner, Shantanu Pathak for more insights! In case you think you need further assistance, here are some of our resources you can consider:
- Watch this session by Shiva Viswanathan, Design Head of Ogilvy Pennywise, and Naman Singh, Product Experience Designer at RED.
- Talk to a course advisor to discuss how you can transform your career with one of our courses.
- Pursue our UI UX Design courses - all courses are taught through live, interactive classes by industry experts, and some even offer a Job Guarantee.
- Take advantage of our scholarship and funding options to overcome any financial hurdle on the path to your career transformation.
Note: All information and/or data from external sources is believed to be accurate as of the date of publication.
