Inclusive design is the practice of creating design works that are accessible and usable by as many people as possible. While all audiences benefit from inclusive design, most importantly, it helps the underserved populations such as seniors and people with disabilities.

This presentation, Pedagogy for Inclusive Digital Product Design Education, introduces the theoretical framework of teaching inclusive design, and its implementation in FIT’s Creative Technology and Design (CT&D) program area. FIT's CT&D program area offers digital product design, user experience design, digital content design, and digital typography courses, all of which share a common core of an iterative creative process designed to maximize the innovative considerations for inclusiveness, and at the same time, stimulate design innovations that produce transformative work which foster positive social change.

The mission of CT&D is to elevate students’ understanding of advanced design concepts, as well as their command of cutting-edge technologies. Student learning outcomes from the creative technology courses enable them to work in some of the fastest growing areas in digital design. CT&D’s pedagogical goal is to nurture the next generation of creative technologists who will design digital content, products, platforms, experiences, and other solutions that leverage technology to solve business problems and to improve people’s lives.

Professor Yeh will provide an overview of CT&D’s mission, pedagogical goals, as well as CT&D’s three-pronged pedagogies: Trans-disciplinary Courses/Programs, Guided Experiential Learning, and Radical Collaborations. Case studies from CT&D’s recent co-curricular projects including collaborations with the National Football League (NFL), Infor, and Petagram will be presented.

Professor Shin will discuss the challenges and opportunities of teaching inclusive design process in college-level design courses. Case studies of student projects, assignments, and in-class exercises from some of CT&D’s new courses and programs such as the Advertising & Digital Design BFA program, User Experience Design certificate program, and the Digital Product Design Summer program in Italy will be introduced.