Design For Dignity
Retail Guidelines

Designing for dignity

Testing your elements, processes and interactions

For each design, fixture, fitting or interaction in the retail experience, retailers and designers should ask the following questions to understand the accessibility of their design:

• How hard is it to use the design for different people with disability?
• How can the design be modified to ensure that more people can access it in a dignified way?

The following areas^{*Inclusive Design Toolkit, University of Cambridge, http://www.inclusivedesigntoolkit.com/betterdesign2/usercapabilities/usercap.html
Viewed September 2016} provide a useful framework for thinking about how every element of a design interacts with different human impairments:

• Vision is the ability to use the colour and brightness of light to detect objects, discriminate between different surfaces or the detail on a surface.
• Hearing is the ability to discriminate specific tones or speech from ambient noise and to tell where the sounds are coming from.
• Thinking is the ability to process information, hold attention, store and retrieve memories and select appropriate responses and actions.
• Communication is the ability to understand other people, and express oneself to others (this inevitably overlaps with vision, hearing and thinking).
• Mobility is the ability to move around, bend down, climb steps, and shift the body between standing, sitting and kneeling.
• Reach and stretch is the ability to put one or both arms out in front of the body, above the head, or behind the back.
• Dexterity is the ability of one or both hands to perform fine finger manipulation, pick up and carry objects, or grasp and squeeze objects.

Within each of these areas there is a range of human capability.

Hearing, for example, ranges from being able to hear nothing at all, to only being able to hear certain frequencies, to being able to hear clearly.

The property and service solutions for each part of this ‘spectrum’ vary. The intent of designing for dignity is to design in a way that seamlessly includes the greatest number of people.

The following table uses some of the capability descriptions from the University of Cambridge Inclusive Design toolkit as they give every day meaning to the challenges people face. The table also includes a couple of examples of design responses that increase the number of customers that are included by the design. (Much more detail is provided in the Premises section of this guidebook).

Capability	High level (mainstream design)	Medium level (includes more customers)	Low level (includes most customers)
Vision	Full Vision	Cannot see well enough to read a newspaper headline. Design response Large print for signage. High contrast of lettering and easy font styles. Eliminate complex floor patterns.	Cannot tell by the light where the windows are. Design response Ensure that queueing systems don't rely solely on a visual indicator to signal ‘next in queue’. Tactile and braille instructions and wayfinding. Digital equivalents of all paper brochures. Clear path of travel to minimise trips.
Hearing	Full hearing ability	Cannot hear a doorbell, alarm clock or telephone bell. Design response Hearing loop installed. Quiet space for customer interactions. No visual distraction behind reception counter (distracts lip reading).	Cannot hear sounds at all. Design response Ensure that queueing systems don't rely solely on a noise to signal ‘next in queue’. NRS awareness. AUSLAN knowledge. DeafSpace*See later section. design.
Thinking* Hold a conversation without losing track of what is being said. Think clearly, without muddling thoughts. Tell the time of day, without any confusion. Watch a 30 min. TV programme, and tell someone what it was about. Read a short newspaper article. Write a short letter to someone without help. Count well enough to handle money. Remember a message and pass it on correctly. Remember to turn things off, such as fires, cookers or taps. Remember the names of friends / family that are seen regularly. Do something without forgetting what the task was whilst in the middle of it.	Full thinking ability	Can do half the items in the footnote list. Design response Repeated use of symbols and colour for direction. Instore IT displays simple to use. Clear buttons / icons.	Cannot do any of the items in the footnote list. Design response Staff training. Provision of summary information for enquiries.
Communication	Full communication ability	Is very difficult for strangers to understand. Is quite difficult for people who know them well to understand. Finds it difficult to understand strangers. Finds it quite difficult to understand people who know them well. Design response Staff training. Tools to facilitate typed communication or charts with common store objects.	Is impossible for people who know him/her well to understand. Finds it impossible to understand people who know him/her well. Design response Staff training. Tools to facilitate typed communication or charts with common store objects.
Locomotion	Full mobility	Cannot bend down and pick up something from the floor and straighten up again. Can't walk long distances. Design response Seating at queue area. Display cabinets that place objects in reach. Path of travel clear of obstacles.	Cannot walk at all. Design response Auto doors, accessible path of travel. Display cabinets that place objects in reach. Counters and payment terminals that can be used from a wheelchair.
Reach and stretch	Full reach & stretch ability	Has difficulty putting either arm up to head to put a hat on. Design response Display cabinets that place objects in reach. Path of travel clear of obstacles. Home delivery alternatives.	Cannot hold out either arm in front to shake hands. Design response Staff training. Staff assistance. Home delivery alternatives.
Dexterity	Full dexterity ability	Has difficulty unscrewing the lid of a coffee jar or using a pen and pencil. Design response D shaped door or cupboard handles. Display items or furniture items do not require gripping and turning. Rocker-style switches.	Cannot pick up and hold a mug of coffee with either hand. Design response Door or cupboard opening solutions that do not require grip. Staff assistance where requested.

Design to include more people with impairments in these areas increases access, inclusion and a retailer's customer base. It can also reduce the likelihood of discrimination claims.