Neuro-inclusion: From Intensity to Modulation
In 2016, Gatwick Airport introduced a simple green sunflower lanyard (the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower scheme) to help passengers discreetly signal an invisible disability. Ten years later, more than 200 airports recognize it. In the meantime, Carrefour introduced quiet hours in its stores in 2021, while Apple launched features in 2023 to reduce cognitive load on its devices. These signals all point to the same truth: the “average user” has never existed. Autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia… According to Deloitte Insights (2024), 15–20% of the global population is neurodivergent, and many experience heightened sensitivity to light, noise or touch.
Long confined to the workplace and accessibility discussions, neurodiversity is emerging as a design issue for brands. The challenge: giving people control over their level of stimulation, without designing separate spaces or products for them.
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Sensory Modulation: Spaces That Turn Down the Volume
After decades of designing for intensification — more light, more music, more scents, more activity — many retailers have already begun experimenting with the opposite.
A pioneer, Morrisons paved the way in the UK in 2018 with its “Quieter Hour,” developed in partnership with the National Autistic Society. Lights are dimmed, music is switched off and checkout beeps are turned down. The initiative has since been adopted by numerous retailers, including Sephora, Tesco, Super U, Kiabi and Carrefour.
Hospitality and travel, industries accustomed to crafting emotional experiences, are now following suit. In 2025, TUI equipped two TUI BLUE hotels with sensory rooms, then opened three more in Turkey and Cyprus in March 2026. Meanwhile, architecture firm HKS unveiled Sensa in 2026, a hotel concept that alternates between high- and low-stimulation spaces. This movement builds on a longer history: Snoezelen multisensory environments, which first emerged in the 1970s. An approach that is now moving beyond specialized facilities to reach mainstream audiences.
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Sensory Comfort: Objects That Support Us at Home
The next major frontier could be the home. Following natural light, air quality and acoustics, a new criterion is coming into focus: sensory comfort.
In practice, this means adjustable lighting rather than a single, fixed light source; materials that feel reassuring to the touch; textiles that absorb sound; and a corner to retreat to. We are moving beyond aesthetics to question how spaces make us feel.
At Milan Design Week 2026, for instance, the DesignSingapore Council presented tableware co-created with a neurodivergent community, while Audi and Zaha Hadid Architects unveiled The Origin, an installation designed as a response to sensory overload.
Objects are following the same path, supporting different states of perception rather than imposing a single experience.
Weighted blankets are a case in point. Brands such as Gravity Blanket, launched on Kickstarter in 2017, have transformed a therapeutic tool into an everyday wellness product. Hearing protection has undergone a similar shift. Once largely confined to industrial or medical settings, earplugs have become everyday accessories. Founded in 2016, Loop Earplugs has repositioned them as a source of comfort rather than a remedy: for working, travelling, sleeping or simply finding some peace and quiet. A sign that the category is moving beyond a niche market, Loop’s revenue surged by 50% in 2024.
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Sensory Precision: Calibrate, Don't Intensify
Like naturalness in food or eco-design in fashion, neuro-inclusion is shifting from a point of differentiation to a baseline expectation. Accessibility alone is no longer enough: brands must create the conditions for everyone to adjust their own experience.
The pitfall to avoid is reducing the issue to a label or a designated time slot. In September 2026, Dezeen called out this tendency in an opinion piece with an unequivocal title: “Too often, neurodiverse design is a marketing ploy.” The most convincing initiatives are those developed with the people concerned and designed to benefit everyone.
Every stage of the design process is involved in building an ecosystem that understands the complexity of real people, rather than catering to an abstract majority.
First, products should support a particular state — focusing, withdrawing, recovering — rather than attempt to correct a perceived deficiency. Materials and colours come next: not muted palettes across the board, but soothing textures, carefully managed contrasts and colour ranges designed to be adjusted. Brand storytelling follows suit: promises of refuge, reassurance and recovery become as relevant as those of performance. Finally, experiences, both online and in-store, must evolve. This means clear, intuitive journeys; spaces that alternate between stimulating environments and quieter areas to retreat to; and interfaces that let users adjust their level of stimulation, making simplicity a mark of consideration.
Long synonymous with commercial performance, stimulation has shaped the brand experience. The future of experience will depend on how well it is calibrated. Tomorrow’s leading brands will not be those that do the most, but those that know how to get the balance right.
And in this ability to create experiences that are more sensitive, adaptable and human, we may well find one of the next major frontiers of brand innovation.
