Designing with, not for: Inclusive Design

I used to think that being a good designer meant coming up with brilliant solutions. Now I know that most often, the best thing I can do is listen and get out of the way. That shift - from designing for to designing with - didn’t happen overnight. It came through moments that stuck with me. Moments like watching a prototype fail in someone’s hands. Or hearing a user say, “This tool works, but it doesn’t feel like it was made for me.” Books like Mismatch by Kat Holmes, Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez, and Design Justice by Sasha Costanza-Chock have helped put words to those moments. They’ve sharpened my understanding of what true inclusion in design really asks of us.

What “Design With, Not For” Means to Me

At its core, designing with means moving from savior to collaborator.

Kat Holmes puts it beautifully in Mismatch:

“Exclusion happens when we solve problems using our own biases.”

To design inclusively, we have to let go of the idea that we always know best. That means involving people from the start, not just testing a product on them after it's already built. It means co-creating with people who’ve lived the problems we’re trying to solve. It’s slower, yes. But it’s also deeper. More honest. More real.

The Blind Spots We Carry

One of the most striking things Invisible Women makes clear is how deeply baked bias is into the systems we move through, including design. When the default perspective is male, able-bodied, and neurotypical, everything from public bathrooms to medical equipment ends up working better for some than others.

And not because people meant to exclude, but because they didn’t include.

That’s why I’ve started thinking about design not just as a technical process, but as a social one. Every choice we make reflects who we’re designing for and who we’re leaving out.

A Justice-Based Lens

Design Justice helped me understand that access alone isn’t the goal. The goal is equity, agency, and belonging.

One quote that stuck with me:

“Design justice rethinks the values, assumptions, and practices that underlie design.”

It challenges us to ask: Who gets to design? Who benefits? And who bears the burden if we get it wrong?

Those aren’t always comfortable questions. But they’re necessary ones.

What I’m Trying to Practice

I'm not writing this because I’ve figured it all out. I haven’t. But I’m starting to build our methods differently:

• I invite people into the design process earlier than feels comfortable.

• I listen longer before sketching anything.

• I remind myself that the goal isn’t to be clever, it’s to understand and be useful.

• I revisit the community we’re working with as often as possible.

That, to me, is what it looks like to design with.

Design With Us

All that said — we’d love to design with you.

If you’re an occupational therapist, a caregiver, a person with a motor impairment, or someone who wants to see more empowering tools in the world, we want to hear from you.

Got an idea? A frustration? A story?

Reach out. Send us a message. Let’s build better, together!