The Universal Design manual
The Universal Design manual (UDM) for digital transport services supports developers and operators when designing accessible and inclusive mobility solutions by incentivising a user-centric thinking and offering a universal design perspective.
The Universal Design manual (UDM) will be based on the analysis of user requirements and feedback from real-life applications in the pilots. The manual will build on the seven principles of universal design, while also considering cybersecurity and privacy. It will expand the concept of equitable use to social, spatial and economic inclusiveness in accessing digital on-demand transport services. The focus will be on the interaction between users and the digital transport system through user interfaces on multiple devices (e.g. mobile, desktop, interactive equipment or information display). Enablers and barriers for the use of mobility services in general will also be identified.
By following the principles of universal design and considering relevant accessibility standards and regulations at European level, guidelines for developers and operators will be derived with best-practice examples and lessons learned.
The UDM will be validated in a co-creation workshop involving the INDIMO Co-creation Community. Further validation and testing of the applicability of the UDM will be carried out in the pilots. Feedback from the pilots will be used to revise and improve the UDM.
The 7 Principles of Universal Design were developed in 1997 by a working group of architects, product designers, engineers and environmental design researchers in North Carolina. The Irish Centre for Excellence in Universal Design offers general guidelines for their use:
