Teaching Inclusive Design: Starter Kit and 25 Mini Case Studies for Classroom Use

This is a comprehensive, modular teaching resource designed to help instructors integrate inclusive design into marketing and business education. The flip book combines conceptual foundations, research-based frameworks, pedagogical guidance, and 25 concise, real-world mini case studies that can be flexibly deployed across undergraduate, graduate, and executive classrooms.

The resource reframes inclusive design not as a niche or compliance-driven activity, but as a strategic marketing orientation that improves consumer well-being, expands markets, and enhances firm outcomes. The deck is deliberately structured to move instructors and students from why inclusive design matters, to how inclusive design works, to what it looks like in practice across industries.

This resource functions as (1) a starter kit for instructors new to inclusive design, (2) a modular teaching tool for experienced faculty, and (3) a bridge between research, practice, and pedagogy.

Brief Descriptions of the Contents of the Resource

I. Why Teach Inclusive Design in Marketing and Business?

The opening section establishes the pedagogical motivation for inclusive design. It critiques the traditional marketing focus on the “average” or “mainstream” consumer and demonstrates how this default approach systematically excludes marginalized and underrepresented groups

II. Core Principles of Inclusive Design

The next section introduces a clear, three-principle definition of inclusive design, making the concept accessible and teachable:

1. Design with the extreme user in mind
   Students learn that inclusive design begins by recognizing exclusion and starting from the margins rather than the mean.
2. Focus on facilitating a match
   Emphasis is placed on the fit between users, products, environments, and usage contexts—not just product features.
3. Benefit a more diverse consumer base
   The “curb-cut effect” illustrates how designing for those at the margins often improves experiences for everyone.

III. Marketplace Mismatches and Consumer Experience

A central conceptual contribution of the deck is the marketplace mismatch framework, which explains how exclusion arises when consumer abilities and marketplace design are misaligned.

Students are introduced to four types of mismatches:

• Sensory (seeing, hearing, touching)
• Cognitive (processing and understanding information)
• Behavioral (performing required actions)
• Social (feeling respected, seen, and included)

IV. Frameworks for Teaching and Application

Several teaching-friendly frameworks are introduced to help students diagnose and design for inclusion.

• ADDRESSING framework: Encourages students to ask, “Who are we unintentionally excluding?” across dimensions such as age, disability, religion, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, and national origin.
• DARE framework: Guides students through how consumers appraise inclusive (or exclusionary) design cues and how those appraisals shape emotions and behavior.
• Levels of inclusive design: Distinguishes between providing access, enabling engaged participation, and empowering success.
• MISMATCH framework: See above.

V. Pedagogical Guidance and Classroom Use

The deck provides instructors with teaching suggestions, including:

• How to sequence concepts across a class session or module
• Buzz-group discussions on barriers to inclusive design
• Experiential redesign exercises (e.g., redesigning everyday products for different user groups)
• Role-taking and perspective-taking exercises
• Integration of short videos and TED talks

VI. The 25 Mini Case Studies: Learning Through Practice

The heart of the flipping book is 25 concise mini case studies, designed to be discussed individually or comparatively. Each case highlights:

• A specific form of exclusion
• The resulting consumer–marketplace mismatch
• A concrete inclusive design solution
• Broader implications for firms and society

Case categories include:

• Consumer products (durables; e.g., footwear, appliances, furniture, backpacks)
• Inclusive services (e.g., financial services, hospitality, retail, theme parks)
• Consumer products (nondurables; e.g., beauty, personal care, grooming)
• Technology (e.g., gaming, navigation tools)
• Inclusive tourism (5 bonus cases; e.g., airlines, adventure parks, public spaces, social enterprises)

VII. Inclusive Tourism as a Special Topic

This section introduces:

• Inclusive tourism principles
• Marginalized groups as consumers and producers
• Examples of firms and destinations redesigning experiences, not just infrastructure

VIII. Additional Resources for Deepening Learning

The closing section curates:

• Academic and practitioner articles
• Managerial readings
• Talks and videos
• A carefully selected list of novels, memoirs, and nonfiction books to build empathy and perspective-taking