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Applied Ergonomics xxx (2013) 1e5

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Applied Ergonomics

journal homepage: www.elsevier .com/locate/apergo

Developing inclusive design expertise within a client/consultancyrelationship

Nina Warburton c,*, Gus Desbarats a, Ian Hosking b

a TheAlloy, UKbUniversity of Cambridge, UKc Philips Consumer Lifestyle, The Netherlands

Keywords:Inclusive designProduct designConsumer centric designTelecommunicationsTelecoms

* Corresponding author.E-mail addresses: nina.warburton@philips.com

thealloy.com (G. Desbarats).

0003-6870/$ e see front matter � 2013 Published byhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2013.03.010

Please cite this article in press as: WarburtonErgonomics (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016

a b s t r a c t

TheAlloy have been working together with British Telecom (BT), as their product design consultants, forover ten years. During that time BT have undergone a key transformation which has had a profoundimpact on their design focus. This transformation has seen BT actively embrace inclusive design as a coredriver for their business objectives. As part of that journey, TheAlloy have in turn developed corecompetencies which have not only supported BT’s transition, but impacted the consultancy’s ability tooffer these services to other clients. This paper reflects on the development of that relationship and thosecompetencies through a series of project case studies.

� 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Background

The mainstream telecoms industry can be characterised asfollows:

� Fast moving� High volume (i.e. a large market)� Competitive� Regulated (Nationally & Internationally)� Standards based (this allows interoperability of telecomsequipment across the World)

� Growing pressure on margins

Therefore, any product has to be seen in this highly competitiveand complex context. However, in addition to this, many countrieshistorically will have had an incumbent ‘telco’ (a telecoms providerowned by the government). Being government owned these ‘telcos’would have had a broader remit beyond a commercial one toaddress wider social issues. This situation has resulted in the pro-vision of special products, services and support. Examples of thisinclude BT’s Text Relay service, which is operated by the RoyalNational Institute for the Deaf (RNID) and funded by BT. Using text-phones and Text Relay assistants it helps deaf, deaf-blind, hard ofhearing and speech-impaired people make and receive calls withhearing people. As such, telcos, particularly those that were state

(N. Warburton), gus@

Elsevier Ltd.

, N., et al., Developing inclus/j.apergo.2013.03.010

owned, have ended up with a split provision between mainstreamand disabled consumers. This situation has continued through theinfluence of regulation.

Inclusive design however brings a fresh perspective to this. Byconsidering capability variation across the population it highlightsthe fact that there aremany consumers, who although not classifiedas disabled, still have difficulty using telecommunications devices.This may be due to the cognitive demands of a user interface, ordifficulties caused by moderate loss of hearing or vision.

This offers an opportunity for products in the mainstream tocomplement existing special products and services. The BT BigButton phone in its various forms has become a key exemplar ofinclusive design by delivering products that sit with in the main-stream but include users with minor and moderate capability loss.However, BT has seen the opportunity for inclusive design beyondthis and has embedded inclusive thinking and practice into itsdevelopment process. It now talks of products that have comethrough the process as opposed to talking about inclusive productsas isolated examples.

As part of this process BT has supported the development of theInclusive Design Toolkit (Clarkson et al., 2007) which provides avaluable resource for organisations that want to design inclusively.

2. BT and TheAlloy

TheAlloy are a team of design consultants specialising in productdesign, interaction design and strategic innovation. For the past 10years, TheAlloy have been retained by BT for whom they havecompleted over 100 projects. These projects range in scope from

ive design expertise within a client/consultancy relationship, Applied

Fig. 1. The BT key-top.

Fig. 2. BT Converse 200.

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core fixed line telephones, to broadband products such as the BTHome Hub (Fig. 6) and new business propositions such as the BTBaby Monitor.

TheAlloy use their alliance with BT as an exemplar to potentialclients for how a client/consultancy relationship can develop overtime to mutual business and intellectual benefit. This is illustratedthrough the development and commercial success of BT’s portfolio,which has shifted over time from one that included productsaddressing ‘special needs’, to a much more mainstream inclusivedesign approach.

The consultancy relationships extend beyond specific productdevelopment teams to include propositions, brand, internal designand usability experts, with the latter involved to ensure that everyproduct complies with BT’s Consumer Centric Design (CCD) agenda.In addition to developing their own tools, TheAlloy utilise the BTinclusive design toolkit and utilise personas created by the usabilityteam that deliberately and actively include those with varying de-grees of impairment and ability.

A number of key design projects illustrate the co-developmentof client and consultancy understanding and expertise in inclu-sive design over a ten year period. Beyond this window, there aretwo key projects which support the full story of BT’s mainstreamadoption of inclusive design.

3. 1990: The BT identity and key-top

Designed pre-TheAlloy in 1987 by Gus Desbarats (nowChairman) the BT identity was created to deliver comfort and us-ability in order to drive call usage and revenue.Within that identity,there were three core elements: the key-top, the use of full text keylegends and key ‘clustering’, i.e. the use of location, form and pitchto visually connect alternative control choices for each interaction.These usability principles are still reflected today in the BT inclusivedesign toolkit.

There were two objectives for the key-top design; first to createa design element that BT could ‘own’ and would act as an identifierfor the brand; second, to provide the end-user with a significantlybetter in-use experience. At this point in time, key forms fell intotwo camps, ‘domed’, or ‘dished’ designs. Qualitative research hadshown that there was a very even split in user preference betweenthem, suggesting that neither was optimum. To try and identify anoptimum design qualitative research with around 20 respondentsof 50/50 gender split revealed what lay behind the expressedpreferences. It was found that fast diallers liked dished keys, whilstthose with long fingernails preferred domed. Analysis revealed thatspeed was related to ‘side to side’ movements, whilst fingernailsrepresented a ‘front to back’ issue. It was believed that both issuescould be addressed with a single topology (Fig. 1) that wouldsupport the finger when on the key, yet allow for variances infingernail length. The resultant ‘saddle’ design works across almostany size or shape of key, making it both faster as well as morecomfortable and easier to use. Used on all fixed line products, theBT key-top design has been applied to over 50 million telephonesand remains a core element of the fixed line identity.

4. 1992: BT Converse 200

The Converse 200 (Fig. 2), is a telephone designed specificallyfor the older and less able user. It was also designed to appealbeyond this to a broader range of consumers Designed according toguidelines drawn up by a group at BT called the ‘Age and DisabilityUnit’ (ADU), it sold many millions of units over an 8 year period.

In order to address the needs of its target market, the designincludes a number of key elements targeted with significantlyimproving usability. The telephone not only utilises the BT key-top,

Please cite this article in press as: Warburton, N., et al., Developing inclusErgonomics (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2013.03.010

but allows for much larger keys offering a larger ‘hit’ area and anincreased pitch to minimise inadvertent key presses. The graphicsare enhanced to increase legibility, graphics increased in size by25% and the tonal contrast between key and graphic increased. Keygraphics are printed light on dark keys, in line with RNIB recom-mendations (RNIB). To boost audio performance, the product in-cludes an induction loop to enable hearing aid compatibility and anilluminated amplify key, which boosts volume beyond the standardsettings. To accommodate those with reduced dexterity, thehandset is chunkier, with increased volume at the ear and mouthand a more pronounced longitudinal curvature; changes designedto improve handset pick-up, positioning and grip.

This product represents a unique ‘collision’ at that time betweenBT’s social responsibilities and the commercial pressure to makesure that whatever products were designed, appealed to as manypeople as possible. The Converse achieved this with strong appealin the ‘heavy use’ markets such as business and hospitality, groupswho purchased it for its robustness and ease of use. In this context,the Converse 200 characterises the start of BT’s inclusive designjourney.

ive design expertise within a client/consultancy relationship, Applied

Fig. 4. BT’s inclusive cordless family, L to R: Freestyle 60, Freestyle 600 & Freestyle 700.

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5. 1998 & 2004: BT ‘Big Button’ corded range

The introduction of BT’s Big-Button corded range (Fig. 3) takesanother key step towards mainstreaming inclusive design. BothBig-Button products were developed with the original design te-nets established by the Converse 200 in mind, but with a strongerfocus on addressing the needs of the visually impaired, which is byfar the most common impairment amongst the general population(need ref).

Drawing strongly on learnings from the Converse 200, the Big-Button range makes a more ‘extreme’ accessibility statement.Functionality is significantly reduced, colour contrast is maintainedbut key size is increased twofold, significantly improving usabilityfor visually impaired users. Further insights from the experience ofusers of the first Big-Button phone, designed in 1998, gathered byBT’s usability team, were addressed by the updated design of thelater model in 2004. Functionality shifts to better address the needsof the target group, the handset is further improved to supportcomfort and grip, and key size is increased. Hands-free capabilityis introduced, adding significant benefit for those with hearingimpairment.

Supported and endorsed by the Royal National Institute for theBlind (RNIB), these two products clearly represent BT’s support forthis growing market (Coleman, 2001). However, as with theConverse 200, sales of the Big-Button range are not limited to thosewith special needs. Once again, these products show successbeyond their core market and are popular in environments wherespeed and accuracy of dialling are essential, such as shops, travelagents and offices.

6. The Freestyle range

In parallel with these developments, the trend in telecoms wasgenerally moving away from fixed products, to cordless handsetsoffering greater mobility. The Freestyle range attempted to trans-late the success of the corded products onto a cordless platform,with mixed success.

6.1. Freestyle 60, 600 & 6000

The first translation of the ‘Big-Button’ design principles onto acordless platform were realised in the analogue Freestyle 60 (F60)(Fig. 4). Retaining design elements such as the large, high contrastkeys, audio amplification and an inductive coupler for hearing aidcompatibility, during its life the F60 was one of the top ten bestselling phones in the UK (Warburton, 2005). Following the

Fig. 3. BT Big Button Mk I & Mk II.

Please cite this article in press as: Warburton, N., et al., Developing inclusErgonomics (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2013.03.010

emergence of digital telephony, two newmodels (F600 and F6000)attempted to follow these principles but with limited success.

Compared to the analogue F60, digital technology in the form ofDECT (digital enhanced communications technology) offers greaterrange, better audio quality and increased functionality on a smallertechnological platform. This puts pressure on key size and pitch,and introduces usability issues related to increased access to fea-tures via screens. Past experience had shown BT that there was asignificant market for these products, however it was clear that anew approach to an inclusive DECT platform was required.

6.2. Freestyle 700

The Freestyle 700 (Fig. 5) is BT’s most successful application ofinclusive design to a DECT cordless telephone. At the time of theproject BT had in place a team specifically focused on raising theawareness of andmanaging the implementation of inclusive designprinciples across all areas of the business, including the develop-ment of the BT Inclusive Design Toolkit and projects were adoptinga consistent user-led approach, with projects routinely involving awide range of research techniques focused on better understandingthe unmet needs of their target market. The project approach forthe Freestyle 700 sought tomaximise on these changes, designing acordless DECT telephone from first principles to create a truly in-clusive design proposition.

A number of activities informed the design process, includinganalysis reports from BT’s usability team, unwrapping trials reports,critical analysis of competitor and existing BT products, BT InclusiveDesign Toolkit, direct user research and market research validation.

Fig. 5. BT Freestyle 700.

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Insights were drawn and the design developed from many as-pects of this process, however, key design inspiration was drawnfrom the penultimate activity, direct user research, which followeda three stage approach:

1. 1:1 interviews with users in their homes2. Placement trials in home with an existing product (F600)3. 1:1 exit interviews with users in their homes

This process, when brought together with the other researchinputs, gave the designers key insights into the usability character-istics of the trial telephone aswell as helping to identify unmet needsand issues around the design of telephones aimed at this market.

1. Contrast is a top priority issue. One user had created a hand-written address book, then highlighted the numbers in yellowpen to increase the contrast. Another had created highercontrast stickers which they placed over the existing keys onthe F600.

2. Screen size and contrast is critical. Users described the screen onthe F600 as too small and very difficult to read. The reasonsgiven were related to size and contrast. This is seen as a keyproblem as the screen acts as the principal access point intoadditional functionality.

3. Most functions are not used. Despite having some functionalityon all of their existing phones to store phone numbers, no userswere using this on any fixed line phones. Entering numbersinto the phonebook on the trail phone was described as“confusing”, “extremely frustrating” and “cumbersome”. Func-tions are either seen as unusable, they are inaccessible (relatedto screen size) or they have no relevance for the user.

4. Cordless handsets are difficult to hold and place. Relative to bothgrip/hold, as well as relative to placement between the ear andmouth. Cordless handsets are often seen as too short relative tothe length of traditional corded handsets, which provide a goodconnection between ear andmouth. There is a tension betweenthe width of the handset and the size of the keys on cordlesshandsets. Traditional handsets are often narrower than theircordless counterparts, enabling a more secure grip.

The design addresses each of these insights:

1. Contrast is a top priority issue. Colour contrast is maximised onthe keys graphics. The screen has a yellow background withblack text, to optimise clarity.

Fig. 6. BT Home Hub 2 a

Please cite this article in press as: Warburton, N., et al., Developing inclusErgonomics (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2013.03.010

2. Screen size and clarity is critical. In addition to the increasedcolour contrast on the screen, the screen has a clear, legible dotmatrix display so that characters are displayed as accurately aspossible.

3. Most functions are not used. The phone has limited functionalityand access to important features such as the phonebook areprioritised, with a single dedicated key allowing users to scrollthrough their phone numbers. Volume control is alsoprioritised.

4. Cordless handsets are difficult to hold and place. This was ach-ieved by resolving the tension between the key size andhandset width by changing the shape of the keys and changingthe orientation of the alpha graphics. This allowed the handsetto accommodate an optimised key area, whilst allowing for amuch narrower, longer handset that is easier to hold.

The Freestyle 700 has been a critical and commercial success. Ithas been described by Ian McCray from BBC Radio 4’s In Touchprogramme thus: “For me this is the most accessible domestic phone Ihave seen”.

7. BT Home Hub 2

The BT Home Hub 2 sits at the core of the BT Broadband offerand offers a combination of wireless internet access with tele-phony. The product was not designed to be specifically aimed atolder or impaired users, but it is designed to be inclusive, simple touse and accessible by a broad range of users.

Home Hub 2 is the second generation design for the Hub andaddresses some of the areas of concern revealed by the first design,Home Hub 1, which had raised some usability concerns on anumber of areas including the connector cover and keys. In therevised design, the cover can be operated with one hand, managesthe cables and can be removed completely if so desired. Thenumber, location and accessibility of additional function keys havebeen addressed, the keys are all on the same side of the product,with clear, high contrast graphics. The existing handset had prob-lems with key differentiation and contrast, the current handset haslarge, high contrast keys, utilising an RNIB approved font. The keysare grouped into functional areas, with the dialling keys angled toavoid cross-hitting. The handset also includes a connection for aninductive neck loop.

The key objective of the project was to produce an iconic designthat would sit at the heart of an advertising campaign (Fig. 6).Designing a product that would achieve this whilst also complying

dvertising campaign.

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with inclusive principles was challenging. The inclusive andsimplicity principles to which the Home Hub 2 was designed cutacross areas much broader than the product design itself. BT havealso applied these in the interface design for the handset, theHome Hub management software and the Home Hub set upprocess.

8. BT & TheAlloy e findings from a successful inclusive designrelationship

Within both companies, the development of inclusive designcompetencies was built on a process of incremental improvementfocused on a number of key projects over many years. Learnings,both implicit and explicit influenced and developed thinking andfor both parties, inclusive design became a point of differentiationthat was used to build brand equity and in turn be used to gainbusiness advantage.

As a company BT had always considered the needs of older anddisabled users, but historically saw this as a separate activityaddressing a specific set of needs. Real progress came when BTembraced inclusive principles as a mainstream activity, core andcentral to its consumer facing offer.

As a design consultancy TheAlloy had always considered usersas central to the design process. However, the trust that BTembedded in them and the freedom of the multi-project retainerrelationship gave TheAlloy permission to explore more in this area,as compared to a single project client relationship.

This experience was based on a number of parameters that haveinfluenced the client/consultancy relationship over the years.

Success is dependent on alignment between both parties. Inclusivedesign projects will be most effective when both client and con-sultancy areworking towards the same objectives. It is difficult for aclient to force a consultancy to work in an inclusive manner if theydo not understand the principles and objectives, and conversely, itis difficult for a consultancy to push for inclusive design in aresistive environment.

Please cite this article in press as: Warburton, N., et al., Developing inclusErgonomics (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2013.03.010

Inclusive design requires consistent and structured effort. Both BTand TheAlloy have taken a number of years to develop a method-ology that can be utilised for inclusive design. It often requirespeople to work in ways they are not familiar with. For designers,this can be especially difficult if their traditional focus has alwaysbeen on the artefact rather than the user experience. Both partiesneed to learn from and build on each others’ expertise.

Be realistic about the business objectives. Neither BT or TheAlloydesign inclusively for purely altruistic reasons. Whilst there is un-doubtedly a corporate drive to create socially responsible products,putting consumers at the heart of business thinking has the po-tential to deliver significant commercial benefits. Inclusive designhas the power to increase product appeal, to improve the userexperience, increasing consumer satisfaction, which in turn im-proves brand loyalty.

Put your money where your mouth is. TheAlloy invested consid-erable time in unpaid speculative projects to build expertise ininclusive design. In turn, they were able to take the benefits of thisinvestment into commercial projects with BT. Equally, BT sawconsiderable tractionwhen a specific unit was created to embed thecompetency across the organisation.

Build on the learning with other clients. As a consultancy, The-Alloy have been able to take this expertise to other clients anddemonstrate the business benefits of working in this way. This hasconsiderably raised the company’s profile and established theirreputation as a leading provider of inclusive design services.

References

Clarkson, P.J., Coleman, R., Hosking, I.M., Waller, S.W. (Eds.), 2007. Inclusive DesignToolkit. University of Cambridge, UK. Available from: www.inclusivedesigntoolkit.com.

Coleman, R., 2001. Living Longer, the New Context for Design. The Design Council,UK.

RNIB guidelines on optimum key design for the visually impaired. http://www.tiresias.org/research/guidelines/keys.htm#colour_coded

Warburton, N., 2005. Mainstream inclusive success. In: Proceedings of Include2005, London.

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