Think about a kerb ramp, the small slope cut into the kerb at a crossing.
It was made so people using wheelchairs could cross the road. Now almost everyone uses it: people pushing prams, pulling suitcases, wheeling bikes, carrying shopping, or walking with a sore knee. Most of us never notice it. It just makes the crossing easier.
This is sometimes called the kerb-cut effect. Something designed for the people who need it most ends up helping nearly everyone.
The hardest day
We find it helps to think about days rather than people.
On a good day, most things are manageable. A long form, a crowded screen, a task with no clear first step: we push through.
On a hard day, the same things can stop us completely. We're tired, overloaded, distracted or worried about something else. Everyone has those days. For some of us, they come more often.
So when we design, we start with the hardest day. If something still works when we're at our most stretched, it usually works on an ordinary day too.
What helps on a hard day
It's mostly small, unglamorous things:
- one clear thing to do at a time
- plain words instead of clever ones
- a screen with nothing competing for attention
- being able to stop halfway and pick up where we left off
- no rush and no penalty for coming back later
None of these slow anyone down. Plain words and a calm screen don't hold anyone back.
Not for one kind of person
That's why we don't think of what we make as being for one group. Some of us find these things hard most days, and some only now and then. Some of us have a name for why, and many of us don't.
Starting with the hardest day means starting with the people who are most often left out. When we get that right, it's easier for everyone else too.
The question we keep asking
We won't always get it right. But it's the question we keep coming back to: would this still work on our hardest day?