Inclusive Experience Design: An IDEA to Move Beyond DEI
- Nichola Wolfe
- Mar 19
- 6 min read
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is often framed as a moral imperative—a way to create fairer, more equitable workplaces where people feel valued. While that’s absolutely true, what’s often missing from the conversation is this: inclusive experiences are also a business strategy. As an Experience Strategy and Design specialist, I’ve seen firsthand how diverse perspectives directly impact innovation, engagement, and, ultimately, the bottom line. This article sets outs out to explore how we might overcome constraint and create long term impact through inclusive approaches.
Experience is about impact. Whether designing digital products, refining employee journeys, or mapping customer touchpoints, the goal remains the same: to create experiences that resonate, perform, and drive meaningful outcomes. The broader the perspectives shaping those experiences, the stronger they become. When a variety of voices and lived experiences shape decision-making, businesses unlock more relevant products, sharper marketing strategies, and workplace cultures that foster true engagement.
Today, many businesses find themselves at a crossroads. The language around DEI is shifting, yet the need for inclusive design and broader thinking has never been more critical. The challenge isn’t about terminology—it’s about ensuring businesses don’t lose sight of their real goal: expanding perspectives, fostering adaptability, and proactively responding to ever-changing environments to anticipate the evolving needs of people.
The shifting landscape around DEI made me reconsider how to overcome constraint and find new ways to ensure inclusivity remains at the heart of business strategy. I began to think about how organisations could embed inclusivity into their core design and decision-making processes—especially at a time when DEI has become a polarising issue, with some businesses retreating from it rather than rethinking how to embed it meaningfully. This is where the notion of IDEA—Inclusion, Design, Experience, and Accessibility—comes in. IDEA isn’t just a concept—it’s a strategic framework for embedding inclusivity into design and decision-making. It shifts businesses from reactive adjustments to a proactive approach, ensuring experiences are built to adapt, expand, and evolve alongside employees and customers. IDEA reframes inclusion as a driver of relevance, innovation, and long-term impact—moving beyond compliance to a strategy for sustainable success. While constraints around terminology may exist, businesses still need to engage with the widest possible audience, build better products, and foster inclusive experiences. Why? Because the most successful businesses don’t just react to change—they anticipate it. They understand that customer needs, employee expectations, and market dynamics are constantly evolving. IDEA provides a new language and a practical approach—one that fosters adaptability, drives meaningful engagement, and ensures organizations design experiences that stay relevant in an ever-changing world.
This article is the beginning of a series dedicated to exploring how businesses can embed inclusive design across key areas. The below article offers broad concepts on core areas, and following articles will deep dive into each area in more detail. Let’s start with innovation.
Innovation: The Power of Diversity in Ideation
If two people exchange ideas, they generate a few. Expand this to six, and the possibilities grow—but if those six share similar backgrounds and ways of thinking, their ideas remain limited.
Now, imagine a team of 20, each bringing different experiences, cultures, and industries to the table. The range of ideas multiplies, shaped by varying perspectives, problem-solving frameworks, and lived realities. Homogeneous groups are constrained by similarity, while diverse teams push boundaries, challenge assumptions, and develop innovative solutions. Research consistently shows that teams with diverse perspectives outperform their more uniform counterparts in problem-solving and creativity.
Denise Jacobs, a creativity evangelist and author, puts it this way:
“None of us is as smart as all of us. Keeping your ideas to yourself is detrimental. Diversity of people equals diversity of ideas.”
Innovation thrives when ideas are free to collide, evolve, and challenge assumptions. The best breakthroughs often come not from consensus but from friction—when different perspectives push against each other, revealing blind spots and uncovering new possibilities. Homogeneous teams avoid conflict because they already think alike, but diverse teams embrace it, using constructive tension to refine, expand, and elevate ideas.
One of the most powerful ways I’ve seen this in action was during a recent technology rollout. Typically, businesses focus on early adopters—those who will engage quickly and champion the product. But instead of sidelining a persona group that had been labeled ‘minimal engagers’, we brought them in early. Their insights led to unexpected usability improvements that ensured high rates of adoption. In fact, we received feedback that it was ‘the best technology rollout ever’—a direct result of listening to those who had previously been sidelined.
Innovation isn’t just about diverse ideas—it’s about how we design and structure the process of innovation itself. IDEA ensures that inclusive thinking is built into the way we create, test, and refine solutions—so that what we build is as dynamic as the people we serve."
For companies that want to remain competitive, diversity isn’t just an ethical choice—it’s a strategic advantage. But to maximise this impact, diversity must be embedded into the design of experiences across the business—from product development to customer engagement.
Marketing: Why Representation Drives Resonance
Marketing is about understanding people. The most effective campaigns don’t just sell; they connect. They reflect the values, identities, and lived experiences of their audience. Without diversity in marketing teams, campaigns lack nuance, leading to messaging that misses the mark—or worse, alienates the very audience it intends to reach.
Consider St. Patrick’s Day marketing. Many brands reduce Irish culture to green beer, leprechauns, and clichés, ignoring the country’s rich history, language, and traditions. As an Irish woman, I find this frustrating—heritage flattened into a commercialized stereotype.
Some brands, however, get it right. Guinness and Carhartt’s campaign, for example, honored Chicago’s Journeymen Plumbers Union 130, the group responsible for dyeing the Chicago River green each year. Instead of playing into tropes, they celebrated a real tradition—one rooted in craftsmanship, community, and legacy. That’s the difference when marketing is shaped by people who understand the culture they represent.
Diverse marketing teams act as cultural filters, ensuring campaigns are authentic and relevant. They help brands craft messaging that feels genuine and resonant, avoiding missteps that alienate audiences. Without these perspectives, brands risk creating campaigns that feel disconnected or even offensive.
If people don’t see themselves in your brand, they won’t buy from you. IDEA ensures marketing isn’t just diverse—it’s designed for authentic resonance. It’s the difference between representation that feels forced and marketing that truly reflects the people it aims to reach. But just like innovation, truly resonant marketing doesn’t happen in isolation—it stems from a business culture that prioritises inclusive experience design from the start.
According to a study by Deloitte, brands perceived as inclusive experience 23% higher revenue growth than those that are not. In other words, inclusivity isn’t just about representation—it’s about business growth.
Designing for Inclusion: The Core of Business Experience
If chimpanzees were in charge of workplace culture, they’d create an environment perfectly suited for chimpanzees. Not out of malice, but because we design based on what we know. The same happens in organisations—when leadership and experience teams lack diversity, they unconsciously design systems, processes, and cultures that cater to people like themselves.
This is why inclusion isn’t just about fairness—it’s about effectiveness. Homogeneous teams may not recognise the barriers, challenges, or biases others face because they’ve never encountered them firsthand. Without diverse perspectives at the decision-making table, companies risk building exclusive, disengaging, or even ineffective experiences—both for customers and employees.
As Vernā Myers, VP of Inclusion Strategy at Netflix, puts it:
“Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.”
Truly inclusive companies don’t just hire diverse talent—they design experiences that allow diversity to thrive. IDEA ensures that inclusion isn’t an afterthought—it’s built into workplace culture, shaping everything from internal tools to leadership development, so that people don’t just arrive—they belong.
Here's an IDEA
The value of designing inclusive experiences extends far beyond innovation, marketing, and workplace culture—these are just the starting points for this conversation. In reality, any business function that involves decision-making, problem-solving, or human interaction benefits from diverse perspectives, and IDEA provides a framework to embed inclusion at every level of an organization.
IDEA isn’t just a framework—it’s a long-term shift in how we design, engage, and build for the future. The best businesses don’t just talk about inclusion—they embed it in the way they create. The future of business isn’t just diverse—it’s designed. IDEA is how we build it.
This is the first article in the IDEA series, where I’ll explore practical ways to apply inclusive design thinking across innovation, marketing, and business experience. If you’re ready to future-proof your organisation, subscribe to stay tuned.
How is your company embedding inclusion, design, experience, and accessibility into its customer, employee, and product experiences? If you’re unsure, let’s talk.