DESIG*ness Guidelines and toolkit: a practical tool to embed inclusion in design education
The DESIG*ness Guidelines for Design Inclusiveness in Art Academies are now available! A new resource created to support educators, institutions, and design communities in making inclusion a structural part of teaching and learning.
Designed as a set of tools, reflections and strategies, the Guidelines provide concrete ways to integrate inclusive design into higher education, helping Art and Design Academies move from good intentions to everyday practices.
Developed within the DESIG*ness Cooperation Partnership, the publication contributes to the project’s wider goal: fostering long-term transformation in European Higher Education by building learning environments where accessibility and diversity are foundational.
Why these guidelines matter
Inclusive design is often reduced to accessibility or addressed only through “special solutions.” The DESIG*ness Guidelines take a different approach: they frame inclusion as a design quality, rooted in human diversity. Not a category, but a way of thinking and working that benefits everyone.
The Guidelines offer:
- A clear framework to understand inclusive design and co-design in academic contexts
- Operational strategies to improve services, learning spaces, and curricula at a systemic level
- Practical questions and tools to support educators in building flexible and inclusive teaching pathways
- A toolkit and recommendations for organizing inclusive co-design sessions with communities and stakeholders
For educators, students, and institutions
Whether you are redesigning a course, facilitating a workshop, or working on institutional transformation, this publication works as a conceptual and operational compass to guide decision-making and support inclusive change in real learning environments.
The DESIG*ness Guidelines are now online! Explore them and discover how inclusive design can become an everyday practice in art and design education.