Countering design exclusion: An introduction to inclusive design

Keates and Clarkson introduce inclusive design through the practical problem of design exclusion: products and systems become unusable when their demands exceed users’ capabilities. The book provides a structured way to connect user diversity with design requirements and evaluation. Its EDI contribution is the relocation of responsibility from the individual to the design process. Rather than viewing disabled or older people as exceptional users, it treats capability variation as an ordinary condition that should inform mainstream design. This matters because it gives practitioners a clear route from principles to decisions and makes exclusion visible as a design outcome. Read alongside later justice-oriented work, it provides an important methodological base while inviting further attention to culture, power and intersectionality.