Serve More Customers With Inclusive Product Design
MIT Sloan Management Review|Summer 2024
Use these questions to empower teams to design products for more diverse populations.
Vanessa M. Patrick and Jeffrey D. Shulman
Serve More Customers With Inclusive Product Design

I MAGINE A PRODUCT THAT MILLIONS OF PEOPLE find frustrating to use because of a design choice that could have easily been avoided. If it were your product, wouldn’t you want to know who was frustrated by it and why, how to fix the problem, and how your organization could avoid making similar mistakes in the future?

Obviously, letting a customer down is bad for business. Yet some products do this every day, unintentionally.

Consider, for instance, how marketers and designers use color to create a distinct visual identity for their products and brands. Decisions about color are often based on the expectation that all users can see the colors that are chosen. But such an assumption might unintentionally exclude colorblind users, who account for 8% of the global population. Recognizing the importance of designing for accessibility, Adobe Color provides accessibility tools that enable designers to select hues directly from the color wheel at the start of the design process, helping them to avoid issues later.

Businesses have an opportunity — and a responsibility — to widen their lenses when considering whom their products are designed for. Inclusive product design aims to facilitate a match between the product and a diverse set of users, which can cultivate wins for the business, customers, and society in the process. Even small acts of attentiveness can yield significant results by making products usable by a larger population.

ADDRESSING User Diversity

Esta historia es de la edición Summer 2024 de MIT Sloan Management Review.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición Summer 2024 de MIT Sloan Management Review.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEWVer todo
Ask Sanyin: How Do You Build for an Unpredictable Future?
MIT Sloan Management Review

Ask Sanyin: How Do You Build for an Unpredictable Future?

While the pandemic was a wild ride of uncertainty for me and many of my peers in leadership, it feels like we never regained our footing.

time-read
2 minutos  |
Winter 2025
What You Still Can't Say at Work
MIT Sloan Management Review

What You Still Can't Say at Work

Most people know what can’t be said in their organization. But leaders can apply these techniques to break through the unwritten rules that make people self-censor.

time-read
7 minutos  |
Winter 2025
Make Character Count in Hiring and Promoting
MIT Sloan Management Review

Make Character Count in Hiring and Promoting

Most managers focus on competencies when evaluating candidates but it’s character that will transform the DNA of the organization. Here’s how to assess it.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
Winter 2025
Why Influence Is a Two-Way Street
MIT Sloan Management Review

Why Influence Is a Two-Way Street

Managers achieve better outcomes when they prioritize collaborative decision-making over powers of persuasion.

time-read
10 minutos  |
Winter 2025
Know Your Data to Harness Federated Machine Learning
MIT Sloan Management Review

Know Your Data to Harness Federated Machine Learning

A collaborative approach to training AI models can yield better results, but it requires finding partners with data that complements your own.

time-read
9 minutos  |
Winter 2025
How Integrating DEI Into Strategy Lifts Performance
MIT Sloan Management Review

How Integrating DEI Into Strategy Lifts Performance

Incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion practices into core business planning can provide a competitive edge.

time-read
9 minutos  |
Winter 2025
The Myth of the Sustainable Consumer
MIT Sloan Management Review

The Myth of the Sustainable Consumer

Companies that understand the different kinds of consumers for sustainable products can market to them more effectively.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
Winter 2025
A Practical Guide to Gaining Value From LLMs
MIT Sloan Management Review

A Practical Guide to Gaining Value From LLMs

Getting a return from generative AI investments requires a systematic approach to analyzing appropriate use cases.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
Winter 2025
Improve Workflows by Managing Bottlenecks
MIT Sloan Management Review

Improve Workflows by Managing Bottlenecks

Understand whether process or resource constraints are stalling work.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
Winter 2025
Craft Schedules That Work for Everyone
MIT Sloan Management Review

Craft Schedules That Work for Everyone

Business leaders can improve retention and business performance with schedules that make sense for workers’ lives.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
Winter 2025