What is a user experience workshop?
If you’re creating a product or service, it’s important to ensure that it is accessible for everyone to use. That’s where User Experience (UX) workshops come in! These workshops bring together a diverse cohort of people with disability to test your product, service or concept and determine how accessible they are. This could look like checking if a new product prototype has the right digital accessibility features or even helping to understand a person with disability’s user journey before you design a service. These workshops can also help you create a more comprehensive user persona, as designing products and services that cater to everyone is essential for success in today’s marketplace.
Why are user experience workshops important?
According to a report by the ABS, approximately 4.4 million Australians have disability. Although this is a significant proportion, accessibility in products and services still remains a challenge for many individuals.
When you run a UX workshop, it gives your organisation the chance to get real-world insights into the hurdles that people with disability face. We encourage participants to share their insightful recommendations and get them involved in the design and testing phases. This approach helps identify and address any issues or pain points that might have been overlooked, ensuring they are resolved before the launch.
Having accessible features from the start is also beneficial to your organisation as they are much more cost-effective than retrofitting it to your product later. Further, these workshops can be beneficial for your future projects as you can get an insightful understanding of what is required to ensure whatever you are creating can be used and accessed by everyone.
How does it work?
Our UX workshops are led by people with disability and offer a wealth of lived experience. They will test your product prototype to see if has the right accessibility features or help you better understand the customer journey of your service for someone with disability. UX workshops can range from being a few hours, held across multiple days or even have sessions conducted over a period of time.
If you have a specific goal in mind for your product or service, our experienced consultants will give you valuable, concise feedback so you can make informed decisions to elevate the experience for all users. These workshops also give you a confident understanding of your audience with disability.
What makes our UX workshops different is that Get Skilled Access offers an unparalleled talent pool. Our consultants and network of associates represent a wide range of disabilities, bringing unique perspectives and knowledge to benefit organisations. If you don’t know where to begin, our discovery sessions will soon give you clarity on what needs to be done.
Our partnership with Coles Group
Get Skilled Access were thrilled to partner with Coles Group with the goal of making Coles Own Brand products and services more accessible for everyone. In 2023, 45 Coles Own Brand products were redesigned, and this was achieved through the help of a UX workshop. The focus groups featured a diverse range of people with disabilities and their valuable insights identified areas for improvement and directly led to the enhanced accessibility in those products.
The partnership has also seen Coles expand Quiet Hour in supermarkets nationwide to increase accessibility for customers. This meant that an hour of reduced sound was extended for customers from 6:00pm to 7:00pm, Monday through Friday at Coles stores nationally. This hour allows customers who find high sensory environments challenging offered a more convenient and accessible time in the evening to complete their grocery shop.
Image Source: Coles Group
