Building For Everyone

CHAPTER 2Google's Capstone Research: What We Learned

Prior to embarking on any new business initiative, especially one like product inclusion that has so many unknowns, conducting research to develop a deeper understanding of the subject matter is always a good idea. On our product inclusion team, we began by experimenting and let our pilot programs guide our progress. We knew that inclusive product design is the right thing to do. However, as we got further into our work, we recognized the dearth of in‐depth research in this area and recognized the need to gather and analyze additional data.

Existing research was limited in terms of looking across multiple diversity dimensions, the intersection of those dimensions, and how differences among individuals influenced both people and product. We wanted to prove the business case for inclusion and use our proof as a mechanism to help move people from awareness to action. Our goal was to prove that diversity, equity, and inclusion should be core business values and integral to product design processes. We wanted to understand how diverse perspectives impacted product design, and also how users connected with brands that demonstrate a deep commitment to diversity and inclusion.

With those objectives in mind, we drafted a research plan in the hopes of answering a few key questions and deepening our insight into inclusive design principles and practices. In this chapter, we present the questions we asked, how we set about answering ...