Designing for Accessibility: A Guide for Modern Businesses

Designing for accessibility means creating websites and digital content that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with effectively. However, designing for accessibility isn’t just about checking boxes for compliance—it’s about creating a better experience for every user.

Back when the web was in its infancy, most sites were designed with a fixed font size between 9 and 14 pixels, assuming the browser window stayed a constant size. But this approach simply doesn’t work in today’s diverse technological landscape, where users access content on devices ranging from tiny smartwatches to expansive 4K monitors.

With varying screen sizes and user preferences, content accessibility relies heavily on flexibility and adaptability in design. Let’s take a look at how to keep accessibility in mind when designing websites.

Designing with Empathy: Understanding the Scope of Accessibility

Often, we might unknowingly create digital experiences that unintentionally exclude individuals with disabilities. This exclusion happens not out of malice, but because it’s easy to overlook aspects we might not personally struggle with.

That’s why approaching design for accessibility requires a conscious shift in perspective. Part of our work here at Storm Brain is designing websites that are not only beautiful and user-friendly but built with accessibility in mind. 

Adopt a lens of empathy and understanding for the variety of ways individuals experience the digital world. Designing with accessibility in mind from the start will allow more users to access your content.

Visual Impairments and Designing for Accessibility

When we talk about visual impairments, we’re not just referring to blindness. This category encompasses a spectrum of visual experiences, including low vision and color blindness. These conditions impact how users interact with websites in different ways.

• Low Vision: Individuals with low vision have reduced visual acuity, meaning they have difficulty seeing details clearly, even with corrective lenses. They may struggle with small font sizes, low contrast, or intricate designs. Providing options for users to customize text size and contrast can significantly improve the user experience.
• Color Blindness: This genetic condition affects the perception of color. It’s more common than many realize, affecting roughly 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women. Designing with color blindness in mind means using color combinations that are distinguishable for individuals with various forms of color vision deficiency.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 4% of the global population have low vision and 0.6% are blind, underscoring the significant need for inclusive design practices. This is one of the things we address when designing websites for our clients – visual accessibility requirements create a more inclusive online environment for a substantial portion of the global population.

Practical Considerations for Designing with Visual Impairments in Mind

There are a few tips you can use when designing your website to make sure it not only looks good but is accessible for those with visual impairments.

• Sufficient Contrast: Ensure there’s ample contrast between text and background colors. Aim for a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for larger text, as recommended by WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). High contrast is essential for readability.
• Meaningful Graphical Elements: Elements like icons or keyboard focus indicators, also need good contrast (3:1 against their background) to be easily perceived. This contrast ratio helps users differentiate elements and understand their functionality.
• Scalable Text: Design for responsiveness, enabling users to resize text without breaking the layout. This flexibility empowers those with low vision to enlarge text for comfortable reading. This adjustment ensures that the content remains accessible and readable across different screen sizes.
• Alternative Text for Images: Provide alternative text descriptions for all images conveying meaning. This descriptive text, known as “alt text,” is read aloud by screen readers, allowing visually impaired users to understand the content and purpose of images. Alt text is crucial for making visual content accessible to users who are unable to see it.

Designing for Those With Motor and Dexterity Impairments

Imagine navigating a website using only a keyboard, or relying on assistive technology like voice control software because using a mouse precisely is challenging. This experience is the reality for many people with motor or dexterity impairments.

These impairments can arise from various conditions and significantly impact a user’s ability to interact with digital interfaces. Some common conditions include arthritis, Parkinson’s Disease, and repetitive strain injuries.

• Arthritis: This leads to stiffness, pain, and reduced dexterity in hands, making it difficult to manipulate a mouse or accurately tap small buttons. Designing for larger click targets and keyboard navigation can mitigate these challenges.
• Parkinson’s Disease: Characterized by tremors, slowed movements, and rigidity, affecting fine motor control and coordination. These symptoms can impact mouse use and keyboard accuracy. Providing alternative input methods like voice control can be beneficial.
• Repetitive Strain Injuries: Like carpal tunnel syndrome, common among those who spend long hours on computers, resulting in pain, numbness, and weakness in hands and wrists, making mouse use and typing uncomfortable or even impossible. Designing for accessibility in these cases involves ensuring keyboard accessibility and minimizing the need for repetitive actions.

These examples emphasize the importance of designing for keyboard accessibility and assistive technologies to make digital experiences usable for everyone. By considering these needs, we create a more inclusive digital environment that accommodates a wider range of abilities.

Design Tips to Enhance Navigation for Users with Motor Impairments:

• Keyboard Navigation: Ensure all website functionality, including menus, buttons, and links, is fully operable using only a keyboard. This accessibility feature is crucial for users who are unable to use a mouse or other pointing devices.
• Clearly Identify Focus States: When a user navigates using a keyboard, a visual focus indicator should clearly show which element is currently selected. This indicator could be a prominent outline, color change, or both, ensuring clarity for users. Clear focus indicators help users understand where they are within the web page’s structure.
• Sizeable and Spaced-Out Click Targets: Use buttons and interactive elements at least 44×44 pixels in size (per WCAG). Space them adequately to prevent misclicks, especially on touchscreens. This improves usability, particularly for users with motor impairments.

Designing for Those With Auditory Impairments

Designing for individuals with auditory impairments, which encompass a range of hearing difficulties, goes beyond simply increasing the volume. It requires thoughtful consideration of how auditory information is presented and providing alternative ways to access that information. Addressing these needs ensures that audio content is accessible to a wider audience, including those with hearing loss or deafness.

Incorporating Accessibility Features for Auditory Impairments

• Captions and Transcripts: Include captions or subtitles for all video and audio content. This benefits users with hearing impairments, those in noisy environments, and language learners. It ensures wider accessibility regardless of auditory ability or situation.
• Alternatives for Sound Alerts: Don’t rely solely on sound for notifications or alerts. Include visual cues like flashing lights or on-screen messages. This ensures alerts are accessible to users with hearing impairments.
• Clear and Concise Language: Use plain language with clear headings and subheadings. This benefits all users, especially those using screen readers. It improves navigation and comprehension by presenting information logically and clearly.

Beyond Checklists: Shifting Perspectives

While guidelines and standards for accessibility are essential, designing with empathy requires a genuine understanding of the diverse needs of users. Instead of approaching accessibility as a series of technical requirements, view it as an opportunity to enhance usability and user experience for everyone.

This shift in mindset transforms accessibility from a box-ticking exercise to an integral part of the design process.

It’s about fostering a digital landscape where inclusivity is interwoven into the very fabric of digital design, rather than being an afterthought. When we prioritize accessibility, we create digital experiences that are not only usable but enjoyable for everyone, regardless of their abilities.

FAQs About Designing for Accessibility

What is designing for accessibility?

Designing for accessibility refers to creating digital products and experiences that are usable by everyone, regardless of any disabilities they may have. This approach involves considering a wide range of impairments, including visual, auditory, motor, cognitive, and neurological disabilities, and making conscious design choices to cater to their needs.

Designing for accessibility is about creating an inclusive online experience that everyone can access and enjoy.

What are the 4 principles of accessible design?

The four fundamental principles of accessible design, as defined by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), are:

1. Perceivable: Users should be able to perceive the information presented, whether through sight, hearing, or touch. This principle ensures that content is available to users regardless of their sensory abilities.
2. Operable: The interface must be navigable and functional for all users, including those who use assistive technologies or have physical limitations. All users, regardless of their abilities or how they choose to interact with the web, should be able to use the website or application.
3. Understandable: The content and design must be easy for all users to understand, using clear language, consistent navigation, and predictable interactions. Users should be able to easily comprehend the information presented and navigate the website intuitively.
4. Robust: The content should be compatible with a wide range of assistive technologies and user agents, including different browsers and assistive devices. The design should be flexible enough to work with various user agents and assistive technologies, ensuring a consistent experience for all users.

What are the 4 guidelines of accessibility?

While frequently used interchangeably with principles, “guidelines” in accessibility often refer to the more specific recommendations for achieving accessibility within each principle. These guidelines are extensive and address a wide array of considerations within web design and development, offering practical advice on how to make digital content more accessible. They cover aspects like color contrast, keyboard navigation, alternative text for images, and much more.

How to become an accessibility designer?

Becoming an accessibility designer requires developing a deep understanding of accessibility principles, guidelines, and best practices. It involves going beyond basic design skills and cultivating a user-centric approach that prioritizes inclusivity. Consider taking specialized courses or online certifications like UX Foundations: Accessibility to gain a comprehensive understanding of accessibility standards and best practices.

Familiarize yourself with accessibility testing tools and actively seek out opportunities to learn from and collaborate with people with disabilities to understand their diverse needs firsthand. Engage with the disability community to gain real-world insights into the challenges users face, and use this knowledge to inform your design decisions. This way, you can contribute to creating a more inclusive digital landscape.

By combining technical knowledge with empathy and user-centered design principles, you can become an advocate for accessibility and create digital experiences that are truly inclusive.

Ready To Make Your Website More Accessible?

Designing for accessibility is not merely a technical consideration but a fundamental aspect of creating truly user-centric digital experiences. It’s about acknowledging the diverse ways individuals perceive, interact with, and experience the online world. Embracing accessibility means designing for a wider range of human abilities and preferences, ensuring that everyone can access and enjoy the digital world.

Ultimately, embracing the principles of inclusive design not only makes websites more accessible for individuals with disabilities but creates better experiences for all users. When we prioritize accessibility, we contribute to a more equitable and inclusive digital world, where everyone can participate and thrive.

We here at Storm Brain have been building beautiful and inclusive websites for our clients and can help with your website as well. Ready to work with award-winning digital marketing and web design experts? Contact us today to get started!