Sustainable development is all about building systems, spaces, and services that support our environment and the well-being of everyone—not just some. It’s about long-term resilience, equity, and impact. But here’s the catch: if the way we design services, plans, and policies leaves people out, we’re not really being sustainable. We’re just being selective.

That’s where inclusive design comes in.

Inclusive design is a mindset and a method that ensures what we create—whether it’s a spatial plan, a community program, or a food system policy—can truly serve everyone, regardless of background, ability, location, or life circumstances.

In this blog, I’ll explore what inclusive design really means, how it applies to the sustainable development sector, and how it can unlock better outcomes for both communities and the organizations serving them.  I’d love to hear your insights on it.

What is Inclusive Design (and What It’s Not)?

Inclusive design, within the context of sustainable development, means intentionally designing services, systems, spaces, and communications that work for everyone, especially for those who are often overlooked or excluded.

It’s about recognizing that people have different needs, abilities, backgrounds, and lived experiences—and designing with that diversity in mind from the very beginning. This isn’t just a moral or ethical choice; it’s a strategic one. Because when we include more people, we create more effective, resilient, and equitable solutions.

Inclusive design might mean:

• Engaging marginalized groups (women, youth, people with disabilities, Indigenous peoples, etc.) in the design and decision-making processes of a project.

• Offering multiple ways to access and understand services—through visuals, audio, different languages, or low-tech options.

• Designing physical and digital environments that are accessible to people with mobility, visual, or cognitive challenges.

• Creating policies and programs that reflect the lived realities of people with different cultural, economic, and social backgrounds.

Inclusive design is not a checklist. It’s not about adding one accessible feature at the end of a project. It’s about asking:

• Who might struggle to engage with this content, project or program and how can we meet them where they are?

• How can we design this in a way that works for more people, more of the time?

Why It Matters in Sustainable Development

The sustainable development field is deeply purpose-driven. It also aims to tackle global challenges—like poverty, climate change, food security, and social inequality—through long-term, systemic change. But if the solutions we design only serve the “average” user or the dominant group, they can reinforce existing inequities instead of resolving them.

The hard truth is: even the best-intentioned projects can unintentionally leave people out.

For example:

• A land use plan that doesn’t consider Indigenous knowledge may miss out on sustainable practices refined over generations.
  
  

• A food security program that assumes everyone has access to smartphones or speaks the national language might exclude rural women or migrant workers.
  
  

• A public health campaign that doesn’t reflect diverse family structures, gender identities, or disabilities can fail to reach those who need it most.

In each of these cases, the design of the solution—not just its intent—affects its success.

Inclusive Design in Action

Food System Transformation Example

Let’s say you’re developing a sustainable agriculture training program for smallholder farmers.

An inclusive approach might involve:

• Translating materials into local languages and using pictograms to support farmers with low literacy

• Designing offline versions of digital content for areas with limited internet

• Including women farmers, elderly community members, and people with disabilities in the co-design process

• Using illustrated storyboards to explain soil health, crop rotation, or seed-saving techniques visually

This doesn’t just help individuals—it strengthens the whole system.

Here's another example: Landscape Architecture & Spatial Planning

A municipal plan for climate-resilient infrastructure might use inclusive design by:

• Hosting community design workshops that include visual mapping and live sketching to spark dialogue

• Sharing plain-language visual summaries of complex policy documents

• Using age-diverse, culturally representative ivisuals to reflect real communities

• Holds sessions or workshop at accessible venues

• Including tactile models or audio guides for those with different sensory needs

Designing with people—not just for them—leads to places and policies that work better, longer.

How to Apply Inclusive Design in Sustainable Development Projects

Here are some ways to start integrating inclusive design into your workflow, even if you're not a designer yourself:

1. Start with Inclusive Research

Involve people with a wide range of lived experiences in your planning, testing, and evaluation. If you’re only talking to professionals, you’ll miss the needs of everyday users. For example, conduct interviews or focus groups with underrepresented voices—rural youth, women farmers, elders, people with disabilities. Their insights are extremely valuable.

2. Recognize and Address Exclusion

Ask yourself: who might be unintentionally excluded by this service, process, or communication? Is the language too technical? Is the digital format limiting? You can use inclusion checklists or personas that reflect a wide range of users.

3. Co-Design with Communities

Bring people into the design process—not just as users, but as collaborators. This builds ownership and trust and often leads to more creative, grounded solutions. Take time to find out which communities or organisations you can reach out to.

4. Use visual communication strategically 

A picture really is worth a thousand words—especially when you’re working across cultures, languages, and literacy levels.

• Use icons, symbols, and illustrations to explain key ideas.

• Represent real people—different ages, races, bodies, situations and abilities.

• Keep layouts clear, fonts readable, and contrast high.

• Avoid relying solely on text or spoken language.

For example, in a spatial planning project, a single map with color-coded overlays can clarify years of planning jargon in seconds.

5. Educate Stakeholders

Inclusive design works best when it’s a shared value. Bring your colleagues, funders, and partners along—share examples, user stories, and even run short inclusive design workshops. (You can even take it up in your monitoring, evaluation and learning) Do this from the start. Also make sure to ask feedback, not only from experts, but also from people using your services. 

Benefits for Organizations

Yes, inclusive design benefits communities. But it also helps the organizations doing the work.

When you design inclusively, you:

• Reach more people, especially those often left out

• Improve program outcomes through better engagement

• Build trust and long-term relationships with communities

• Strengthen your credibility with donors, partners, and the public

• Avoid costly rework caused by misalignment or miscommunication
  
  It’s a strategic investment that pays off—in impact, efficiency, and reputation.

Let’s Work Together

Inclusive design isn’t just a trend. It’s a commitment to doing sustainable development right.

As an illustrator and inclusive designer, I partner with governments, policy teams, and organizations in the sustainable development sector to create visuals, materials, and processes that are clear, inclusive, and human-centered.

Whether you need:

• Visuals to communicate complex policies

• Workshop or presentation visuals

• Visuals you can reuse in your project

• Inclusive training materials

• Educational materials

• Storyboards or toolkits for stakeholder engagement

• Accessibility-minded reports and infographics
  
  

I’m here to help.

Let’s make your project more accessible, engaging, and inclusive—together. Reach out to explore how we can collaborate. Reach me here: contact@raanii.eu