Overview

The primary focus of the majority of new product development projects is time and budget. However, delivering the most commercially successful product can conflict with this focus.

There is often the perception that good design takes longer and costs more than bad design. Indeed that design is something we can choose not to do and thereby reduce cost and timescales. In reality, the true costs of bad design (such as warranty returns from unsatisfied customers) emerge later on in the product life cycle, and have the potential to cause irreparable damage to the brand image through customer frustration.

The following pages aim to demonstrate that an inclusive design approach results in better products with greater user satisfaction and greater commercial success whilst reducing product development risk.

The case for inclusive design is presented at three levels: