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An object can work and still make the person using it uncomfortable. A place can be accessible and still make us feel excluded. In our essays, guides and interviews on Design for All and Inclusive Design, we explore the distance between being able to use something and wanting to choose it.

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Design for All 12 articles

  1. Design for All · News and events · 5 min Design for All Process: the Florence event of 17 October 2026 Answers the question: What did the Design for All Process event in Florence bring together? A network of museums, a mass-produced industrial product and artificial intelligence technologies in the same afternoon: the programme of Design for All Italia’s event in Florence. In each case there is a point beyond which inclusion can no longer be designed, only remedied.
  2. Design for All · Interview · 3 min Inclusive design: the Design for All approach on Radio Canale Italia Answers the question: What is inclusive design, as explained on the radio? As a guest on Radio Canale Italia’s Storytime, Francesco Rodighiero described accessibility as the way a project is approached from the very beginning. He spoke about sustainability and timescales in hotels, users whose needs go beyond disability, Co-Design, aesthetics and the trends observed by Design for All Italia.
  3. Design for All · Interview · 3 min Francesco Rodighiero on Rai Radio 3: Design for All at the heart of the cultural debate Answers the question: Why is Design for All a cultural issue, not only a technical one? As a guest on Rai Radio 3’s “A3 – Il formato dell’arte”, Francesco Rodighiero spoke about accessibility as a matter of design culture rather than compliance. The BTicino Linea 5000 case and a critical look at Milan Design Week.
  4. Design for All · News and events · 3 min Design for All Italia: a new section in our portfolio Answers the question: Which projects has the studio developed with Design for All Italia? A section of our portfolio brings together the projects we have developed with the association Design for All Italia: the user interface of BTicino’s Linea 5000, retail technologies analysed with people, and a pointer to the association’s case studies.
  5. Design for All · Guide · 8 min Design for All, Inclusive Design, Universal Design: design approaches compared Answers the question: What is the difference between Design for All, Inclusive Design and Universal Design? Three approaches with the same aim and different traditions: the seven principles of American Universal Design, the British Inclusive Design practice of offering alternatives, and the European Design for All process, which involves people at every stage. What really sets them apart, and why our work starts from Design for All.
  6. Design for All · Essay · 6 min On ergonomics: from holistic ergonomics to Design for All Answers the question: How does ergonomics relate to Design for All? Ergonomics studies the interactions between people and the other elements of a system; Design for All inherits its rigour and asks what a solution says about the person who uses it. The IEA definition, Luigi Bandini Buti’s holistic ergonomics and the case of safety grab rails.
  7. Design for All · Essay · 4 min Design for All and Wikipedia: why it is not Universal Design Answers the question: Why is Design for All not Universal Design? Wikipedia presents Design for All as a variant of Universal Design, and in Design for All Italia’s view this is an error of approach. The state of the entry in 2026, the Stockholm definition and three differences: in nature, in the role of people, and in where dignity is decided.
  8. Design for All · Essay · 5 min “The disabled”, “differently abled”, people with disabilities: it is not just a matter of language Answers the question: “The disabled”, “differently abled” or people with disabilities: what changes in the design? In Italian, the term is “persona con disabilità”, person with disabilities: it is the term used by the UN Convention and, since 2024, by Italian law. From the Convention to the ICF, why putting the person before the condition changes the way we design, and why Design for All speaks of human diversity and aspirations, not of categories.
  9. Design for All · Interview · 5 min Design for All in design practice: an interview with Francesco Rodighiero Answers the question: What does Design for All mean in everyday design practice? Seven questions put to Francesco Rodighiero in June 2021: what Design for All means, how it translates into a product, where accessible design is heading. The answers are reproduced as given at the time; updates, from the Prime washbasin to the Shine washbasin, are collected at the end.
  10. Design for All · News and events · 3 min Francesco Rodighiero, president of the Design for All Italia association Answers the question: What is Francesco Rodighiero’s remit as president of Design for All Italia? Francesco Rodighiero has chaired the Design for All Italia association since 2020, with a programme focused on Law 13/1989, training and Co-Design. The board elected in 2021 and the current one, the stated objectives and the documented work, from the Bologna Civic Museums to Linea 5000 and the Florence event.
  11. Design for All · Essay · 7 min Design for accessibility and beauty Answers the question: Can accessibility and beauty belong to the same design? An aid that works but is not liked ends up in a drawer: the lesson of a 2016 hackathon with people with rheumatoid arthritis. From testing products on the market to dignity as the unknown quantity in design, through to ten criteria for designing beautiful aids and the solutions that have followed.
  12. Design for All · Essay · 12 min The phenomenology of exclusion: Design for All as a contemporary approach to design Answers the question: Why do products exclude people, and how does Design for All prevent it? A 2012 essay, republished with dated notes: design that ignores the diversity of people produces exclusion, both social and perceived. From Universal Design to ageing, from the examples of Autogrill and the Delicanter to the case of Ikea, why Design for All is the process that prevents it.

Standards and value 5 articles

  1. Standards and value · Guide · 10 min European Accessibility Act: what really changes for companies in product design Answers the question: What does the European Accessibility Act really ask of those who design products? Since 28 June 2025 the EAA has made accessibility a market requirement for digital products and services: scope, exceptions, enforcement and penalties in Italy. Compliance, however, cannot be achieved with a checklist once the product is finished: it is decided in the brief, with people and with prototypes.
  2. Standards and value · Guide · 11 min The ROI of accessibility: the economic dividend of Design for All Answers the question: What is the return on investing in accessibility? Accessibility designed in from the start pays off in four areas: revenue, costs, competitive advantage and resilience. We bring together European data, documented cases from Legal & General to the Bologna Civic Museums (Musei Civici di Bologna), the World Bank’s estimate of construction costs and the formula for calculating the return on a project.
  3. Standards and value · Guide · 7 min Design for All and Italy’s Recovery Plan (PNRR): what remains for accessibility Answers the question: What has the PNRR left behind for accessibility? Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) comes to an end in 2026, after funding two accessibility measures – for cultural venues and for pathways to independence, the second scaled back when the Plan was revised. We set out the updated budgets and targets, the obligations that remain and the process that makes an investment last beyond the funding period.
  4. Standards and value · Guide · 8 min Law 13/1989 and the removal of architectural barriers: results and limitations Answers the question: What has Law 13/1989 achieved, and where has it stopped short? In thirty-seven years Legge 13 has brought ramps and lifts, but practice has applied mostly its measurements, leaving orientation and perception behind. What the law and Ministerial Decree 236 require, what the data say, and why we propose rules that make the result mandatory and leave the choice of means open.
  5. Standards and value · Guide · 6 min PEBA plans in Lombardy: the regional guidelines through a Design for All lens Answers the question: What do Lombardy’s guidelines require for PEBA plans? With Regional Government Resolution (DGR) XI/5555 of 2021, Lombardy asked municipalities for PEBA plans that are participatory from the outset, explicitly adopting the Design for All approach. What the plan is, what the guidelines say, what funding the Region has provided and how to work on a PEBA that starts from people.

Products and spaces 6 articles

  1. Products and spaces · Essay · 5 min “Anche per me”: an accessible, inclusive bathroom in 5.5 square metres Answers the question: How do you design a bathroom for everyone in 5.5 square metres? A double washbasin, an open shower with two seats, just three grab rails: a home bathroom that does not look like a “disabled bathroom”. The Prime washbasin, the floor-standing WC and DM 236/1989, contrast and light, the feature in Il Bagno Oggi e Domani and INOUT 2026.
  2. Products and spaces · Essay · 8 min The inclusive bathroom as a system: the Design for All approach Answers the question: Why should an inclusive bathroom be designed as a system? A bathroom that meets the regulations is not yet a bathroom people want to use: thresholds, heights, controls and light work only if they are designed together. Italian regulations and their limits, level-access showers, adjustable systems, discreet technology and the test case of “Anche per me” (‘For me too’).
  3. Products and spaces · Interview · 3 min Participatory design for change: Francesco Rodighiero in Il Bagno Oggi e Domani Answers the question: How does design change when people take part? A society of five generations that is ageing rapidly can no longer be designed for a single category of people. Francesco Rodighiero’s interview in Il Bagno Oggi e Domani, the updated demographic data and the role of participatory design in companies’ research and development.
  4. Products and spaces · Essay · 7 min Accessible architecture: innovation and inclusion in public and private spaces Answers the question: How do you design accessible architecture that goes beyond the regulations? Italian law sets a minimum threshold, which also covers wayfinding and the recognisability of places; quality of use is designed on top of it. The rules for private and public buildings, the shift from accessibility to inclusion, six design principles and three projects of very different kinds.
  5. Products and spaces · Essay · 6 min Accessibility and inclusive design: how to innovate in product design Answers the question: How can accessibility drive product innovation without giving the product a clinical look?
  6. Products and spaces · News and events · 3 min The Prime washbasin on the set of “Lea – Un nuovo giorno” Answers the question: What does a washbasin on the set of a television series tell us? Prime, an accessible washbasin that does not look like an aid, appears in the paediatric ward of a Rai 1 series. We look at what the set makes visible, what the product is, and why installation matters as much as design.

Culture and tourism 5 insights

  1. Culture and tourism · Interview · 2 min Bologna Civic Museums: the need before the building Answers the question: Why should an accessibility plan start from needs rather than from the building? In MuseoOggi, Francesco Rodighiero describes the process Design for All Italia carried out for the Bologna Civic Museums, on which he worked directly. From listening to decisions: the role of needs in shaping the project.
  2. Culture and tourism · Essay · 4 min Design challenges and flexibility: reflections on designing for accessibility Answers the question: Why is flexibility the real challenge of accessible design? An accessible cultural space is not finished once and for all: exhibitions, audiences and languages change. Francesco Rodighiero’s video lecture for the Scuola nazionale del patrimonio (Italy’s National School of Heritage) treats flexibility as a design skill, covering communication, wayfinding, mediation and an example from the Bologna Civic Museums (Musei Civici di Bologna).
  3. Culture and tourism · Essay · 6 min Cultural accessibility: visible and invisible barriers in cultural venues Answers the question: Which barriers, visible and invisible, keep people away from cultural venues? Museums, archives and libraries seem open to everyone, yet steps, texts, costs, opening hours and relationships can keep many people out. This article looks at the kinds of barrier examined in our lecture for Italy’s National School of Heritage, from physical to relational, and at why cultural accessibility needs a single, coordinated design.
  4. Culture and tourism · Essay · 7 min Accessible museums and Design for All: towards a new alliance between culture, people and design Answers the question: How can a museum become accessible to all its visitors? A museum is accessible when every person can plan their visit, find their way, understand its collections and feel welcome: physical barriers are only part of the picture. The case of Bologna’s 12 civic museums, the process from Co-Design to guidelines, the legislation in force and where to begin.
  5. Culture and tourism · Essay · 6 min Accessible tourism: accessibility and inclusion in tourist and holiday destinations Answers the question: What really makes a holiday destination accessible? Accessible tourism accounts for 8.2% of overnight stays in Italy, but treating a reference practice as a tick-box list is not enough to make it a reality. Data published in 2026, standards and funding, the limits of the UNI/PdR 131:2023 checklists, and the design of rooms, bathrooms and routes that people choose.

A–Z index

The ABC of inclusive design: the words that recur in our texts, and the passages where they turn into design.

A

Accessible tourism
Architectural barriers

B

Bathroom
Beauty and aesthetics

C

Co-Design
Comfort
Cultural accessibility

D

D.M. 236/1989
Dignity
Disability language

E

Ergonomics
European Accessibility Act

F

Flexibility

G

Guidelines

I

Inclusive Design
Invisible barriers

L

Law 13/1989

M

Museums

P

PEBA
People with sensory disabilities
PNRR
Population ageing
Prototypes and testing

R

ROI and economic value

S

Stockholm Declaration

U

UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Universal Design

W

Washbasin
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