Route · Public Design Atlas
Design more inclusively and sustainably
To review a design with more people and its impact in mind.
Start from principles
What doing it better means in your case.
Inclusive design
Designs products and services that the widest possible range of people can use, learning from those excluded by ability, age, language or situation.
How it’s used
- When to use it
- Include people who are usually left out in your research, from the start.
- Avoid
- Leaving accessibility until the end as a checklist.
Sustainable design
Designs products, services and systems with their environmental and social impact in mind across their whole life cycle, from materials to end of life.
How it’s used
- When to use it
- Decide at the start how the product will be repaired, reused or recycled.
- Avoid
- Swapping one material for an “eco” one without looking at the whole cycle, or calling it “green” without proof.
Review what exists
Where it leaves someone out or wastes resources.
Accessible design
Designs digital products that people with disabilities can use, following guidelines that can be checked, such as WCAG.
How it’s used
- When to use it
- Check contrast, keyboard use and alt text from the start.
- Avoid
- Relying only on automated tools: they find some of the problems, not all.
WCAG guidelines
The W3C guidelines for making digital content accessible, organized into four principles, with testable criteria at three levels: A, AA and AAA.
How it’s used
How it works
- Four principles state what content must achieve.
- Each guideline has concrete criteria that can be tested.
- Each criterion has a level: A, AA or AAA.
- Avoid
- Relying only on automated checkers: many barriers only show up when testing with a keyboard or a screen reader.
Circular design
Designs products, services and business models so that they create no waste and keep products and materials in use at their highest value.
How it’s used
- When to use it
- Design for disassembly: parts that can be separated and repaired.
- Avoid
- Calling something circular when it is only recycled once.
Avoid harm
What not to do.
Interface designs that lead people to do something they didn't want to, like buying, subscribing or giving up data, by exploiting how we decide.
How it’s used
Why it happens
- They exploit mental shortcuts such as haste, inertia or social pressure.
- They hide or make costlier the option that best serves the person.
- They work, which is why they have spread so widely.
- Avoid
- Hiding cancellation, preselecting extras or using guilt-tripping wording.
Test it with those who need it most
The people it affects most.
Usability testing
A method in which real people try to do specific tasks with a product while being observed, to find out where they get stuck and why.
How it’s used
How it’s done
- Prepare realistic tasks, without saying how to do them.
- Observe each person as they try and think aloud.
- Note where they get stuck and decide what to fix first.
- Output
- A list of usability problems, with where they appear and why
- Avoid
- Asking “do you like it?”: measure what people do, not what they think.
Co-design
The collective creativity of designers and people not trained in design, applied throughout the whole process. It is a specific case of co-creation.
How it’s used
How it’s done
- The design team prepares materials so anyone can create.
- People create from their own experience.
- Together, everyone interprets what was made and decides what to design.
- Avoid
- Inviting people to co-design when the solution has already been decided.