IncluCity Calgary

Usability testing is the process by which you engage the users of your product or service in order to ensure that the technology is working for them. Usability testing isn’t a new idea, but with IncluCity Calgary, we’re doing something different: usability testing with a model of inclusion. To really understand the impact of our work, we need to unpack exactly how that word — “inclusive” — changes what it means to do usability testing. By changing the ‘when, where, how and with whom’ of usability testing, we’re turning the process on its head, and providing opportunities for diverse and often under-represented residents to weigh in on the products, processes and services that impact them. When we add inclusion to usability testing we reconsider the design process with the notion that if it doesn’t work for someone, it doesn’t work for everyone. As Calgary’s first and only inclusive usability testing initiative we are united in the mission to plan, design and run testing sessions with an inclusive and representative group of Calgarians to improve the usability of products, processes and services for teams in public, private and non-profit sectors.