Accessible Design

What is Accessible Design?

Accessible Design refers to any design that enables equal usability for everyone, eliminating barriers, especially for individuals with disabilities or the elderly. This type of design must cater to all users, making it a significant and interesting aspect of User Experience (UX) design.

 

How can we design to best serve the users?

Accessible Design is thus crucial for businesses, designers, and developers, as it's necessary to understand whether the design or development of a website benefits all users equally.

 

Principles of Accessible Design

Color: Color usage can impact certain visual impairments. Light colors, for instance, can cause difficulties for users trying to distinguish them. For example, white text on a light gray background may look modern and sleek but can be invisible to some users. Therefore, the use of color and contrast is a critical consideration in design.

Text: Many modern websites use contemporary fonts that are thin and clean for aesthetic purposes. However, this choice may render text inaccessible to those with visual impairments. The font size is also important; avoid text smaller than 14-16 px as it can be challenging to read, and ensure the text format is conducive to speed reading.

Media: Options like audio content instead of reading or subtitles for audio are functions that add value and utility to digital products like websites and applications. They enable access for all users, such as websites with reading functions for visually impaired users or social media platforms like YouTube, which offer subtitles for the hearing impaired.

 

Importance of Digital Product Accessibility

Digital Product Accessibility involves creating websites and applications designed and developed for universal access and usability, particularly for people with disabilities and the elderly, whose numbers are continuously growing. This includes those with temporary impairments, like a broken arm, or those who might not be wearing glasses at the moment. In design, we adhere to WCAG standards for web development.

 

WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)

Access to websites and applications relies on various components working together, including technology like web browsers and devices. WCAG is a standard for Web Accessibility set by W3C, defining the criteria for designing and developing websites or applications accessible to everyone.

 

Digital Product design may solve business problems or communication issues but should not create new problems for users. It should be designed to support usability and information dissemination equally for all users.