According to the CDC, 61 million adults in the United States live with a disability. Given the number of people who have a disability and the rise of Americans with Disabilities (ADA) website-related lawsuits over the past years, it is imperative that we design for these individuals. After all, accessible design drives better usability. Accessibility standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a good starting point for those aiming to improve the accessibility of their design. Additionally, platform-specific UI recommendations such as Apple’s Human-Interface Guidelines and Google’s Material Design also include accessibility guidelines for designers working within those ecosystems.
5 general guidelines that can be used to improve the accessibility of your visuals:
Since they have similarities, accessibility is sometimes confused with usability. Both overlap and are vital parts of user experience (UX) design, but there are also key distinctions between them. Usability is concerned with whether designs are effective, efficient, and satisfying to use. Theoretically, this means that usability includes accessibility since a product that is inaccessible is also unusable to someone with a disability; practically, however, usability tends not to specifically focus on the user experience of people with disabilities.
Accessibility, on the other hand, is concerned with whether all users are able to access an equivalent user experience, however, they encounter a product or service (e.g., using assistive devices). Unlike usability, accessibility focuses on people with disabilities.
Accessibility is not only the right thing to do but often also brings benefits to all users. That’s because accessibility features that help people with disabilities often help other people, too. For instance, video captions that help people with hearing difficulties also help a person who is watching the video on mute (e.g., in a social media feed). Legible, high-contrast text that helps people with vision difficulties also helps people with perfect eyesight who are using the app outdoors in bright sunlight.
Many users—whatever their abilities—will face challenges due to demanding contexts. When you design for all ability levels, you can create products and services anyone can use and enjoy—or at least find helpful or calming.
Although accessibility is a critical factor that impacts design, many brands overlook it. Based on a 2011 World Health Organization report concerning disability, however, you’ll exclude about 15% of Earth’s population if you don’t make your design accessible. Furthermore, many jurisdictions—including the E.U.—have penalties for failure to create accessible designs. However, designing for accessibility makes sense on more than a legal level; it brings benefits, including these:
✦ Improved SEO from semantic HTML
✦ Opportunities to reach more users on more devices, in more settings/environments
✦ Enhanced public image for your brand