Universal Design is the concept of creating an environment or experience that can be accessed and enjoyed by all people who want to use it.

It is a fundamental condition of good design.

Centre for Excellence in Universal Design

Using Universal Design means that your product or service can be used by everyone, not just a small number of people.

Universal Design is not about complying with regulations and disability access laws, or about creating a one size fits all product. It is about taking your audience’s wants, needs and interests into account when designing and adapting your product or service to be beautiful, functional and enjoyable.

For small businesses and hospitality businesses, using Universal Design means expanding the audience to ensure even more people can access your products and services.

Applying Universal Design to your business means looking at the different aspects of your business, from the design of your physical space to the design of your customer service.

It means thinking about all the potential people who will want to use your business, including your elderly grandparents with failing eyesight, and your neighbours with a a baby in a pram. It means asking them about how you can make sure that they too can purchase and enjoy your products and services and making sure that those decisions are reflected in the design of your business.

It is always easiest and cheapest to consider Universal Design in the beginning stages of your business so you can incorporate it into the initial design and account for it in your budget. However, if your business is already established, there are always free, cheap and easy things that you can do to make sure that you are always attracting new customers.

Universal Design has seven principles:

1. Equitable Use
   • The design is useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities.
2. Flexibility in Use
   • The design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities.
3. Simple and Intuitive Use
   • Use of the design is easy to understand, regardless of the user’s experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level.
4. Perceptible Information
   • The design communicates necessary information effectively to the user, regardless of ambient conditions or the user’s sensory abilities.
5. Tolerance for Error
   • The design minimizes hazards and the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions.
6. Low Physical Effort
   • The design can be used efficiently and comfortably and with a minimum of fatigue.
7. Size and Space for Approach and Use
   • Appropriate size and space is provided for approach, reach, manipulation, and use regardless of user’s body size, posture, or mobility.

Universal Design also has eight goals: © Steinfeld and Maisel, 2012

1. Body Fit
   • Accommodating a wide a range of body sizes and abilities
2. Comfort
   • Keeping demands within desirable limits of body function and perception
3. Awareness
   • Ensuring that critical information for use is easily perceived
4. Understanding
   • Making methods of operation and use intuitive, clear and unambiguous
5. Wellness
   • Contributing to health promotion, avoidance of disease and protection from hazards
6. Social Integration
   • Treating all groups with dignity and respect
7. Personalization
   • Incorporating opportunities for choice and the expression of individual preferences
8. Cultural Appropriateness
   • Respecting and reinforcing cultural values, and the social and environmental contexts of any design project

• Centre for Excellence in Universal Design
• Wikipedia on Universal Design
• UniversalDesign.com