Accessible design, what is it?
You may have heard of accessibility, but in the design industry it’s a word that is becoming ever prominant. So what is accessibility and how does it relate to the creative world?
Accessibility simply means ‘the quality of being easy to use’ and the key point is - easy to use. With a variety of different areas in the in creative world such as web design, print, tv and more, accessibility is one thing that should be thought about every step of the way when designing anything. In doing so we can ensure that each and every person across the globe can understand and interact with the designs we produce.
How do we make something accessible?
To make something truly accessible we need to think about our audience and what difficulties they may have when interacting with the work we create. Accessibility is usually associated with individuals who have disibilities and people usually think of disibilities as something that is on the upper end of the severity level.
So, when designing we always have to take into account our audience who may have both, permanent difficulties as well as siuational difficulties. An example of a situational difficulty would be if you were standing outside in bright sunlinght looking at your phone screen and struggling to read or see anything. To be able to read the screen again you could find shade or turn away from the sun allowing you to see things clearly again. Situational difficulties are things that you have the ability to change easily. Whereas a permanent impairment would be something you have no control of such as blindness, parkinsons diseases or deafness.
When designing there are some key things that we can think about to accomodate all of our audiences.
Designing for those with visual imparments:
Use high contrast colours, large and easy to read fonts. Be descriptive when writing your alt text for imagery. Give text sufficient breathing room on a page and follow a logical order especially when designing things like brochures and websites to allow people who use screen readers to understand the content that is in front of them.
Examples of visual imparement include: blindness, macular degeneration, short sightedness and colour blindness.
Designing for those with physical disabilities:
Make key elements (such as CTA buttons) easy to interact with. Space out form fields when designing websites or documents. Make buttons large and easy to click on. Keep scrolling on a web page minimal.
Examples of physical disabilities include: Multiple sclerosis, Arthritis, Cerebral palsy and Epilepsy.
Designing for those with hearing dificulties:
When creating video content make sure that if it includes a voice over that there are always subtitles that display, don’t rely only on audio to get the message of your creative across to an audience.
Examples of hearing dificulties include: Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder and Sensorineural Hearing Loss.
Designing for those with neurological disabilities:
Keep designs and content structured and left aligned allowing easier reading. Write in plain English. Use symbols and icons to acompany text where it would aid understanding and give clear direction.
Examples of neurological disabilities include: Asperger’s syndrome and Autism.
Did you know?
There are currently over 1 billion people in the world living with a disability. That’s 15% of the world’s entire population!
In the UK alone we have 14.6 million people (source: Family Resources Survey 20-21) with a disability out of a total population of 67million (source: Office for national statistics blog 2021) so that works out to be around 22% of the UK population who have a disibility.
Why should I consider designing with an accessible mindset?
Now, for all you business owners out there, think about how many customers you’ve interacted with over the years and you’ll likely find that some of them have a disability, and some of those disabilities might not be visible at first. It’s therefore important to change your mindset and think about all of the customers you have, and how they would feel looking at the creative you’ve produced. Would they think something like, ‘I couldn’t read the text because it was too small’ or would they think ‘this company really accomodated my needs and I could easily use their website’. It’s these things we have to think about to make sure we’re always challenging ourselves to do better and be inclusive, accessible and as creative as we can be.
Considering that 15% of the worlds population have a disability this is a huge market that businesses need to be aware of and design for. Ensuring that customers of all abilities can use your service is key as some people with disabilities may find a task like buying a product on a site or reading key information on a flyer more difficult. As a result, they will be more likely to abandon your site or dispose of your flyer without looking at the content and in some cases this might be because they physically can’t.
What tools can I use to be more accessible?
Web aim contrast checker - A great tool that allows you to ensure any colours you use have a great contrast ratio.
Web disability simulator - A Google extension that can simulate different disabilities online so you can understand the experiences those with disabilities may encounter.
UK government accessibility guides - A collection of do’s and don’ts to make sure you’re keeping accessibility in mind when designing.
Got an idea that you want brought to life in an accessible way or do you need some creative consultation to steer you in the right direction? Then get in touch with JNPcreative today so we can suport and guide you in becoming more accessible for all of your customers.