Accessibility — The Benefit of Inclusive Design
During this semester, I attended an online conference titled “Accessibility — The Benefit of Inclusive Design” by We are you. We are you is a digital agency that provides smart and reusable digital solutions for its clients. Accessibility design is a topic not covered in depth in lecture. Therefore, I sign up for this event to find out the various ways used by the companies to make their application more accessible.
The conference started with Natasha, We are you’s UX/UI designer, highlighting the main difference between usability and accessibility. Usability concerns with whether designs are effective, efficient and satisfying to use; whereas accessibility concerns with whether all users can access an equivalent user experience, however, they encounter a product. In NM3221, when evaluating our prototype, we check against Jakob Nielson’s ten Usability Heuristics. These heuristics focus on the user experience for the target users. The resultant prototype will be optimised to cater to the target audience. However, there may be disabled individuals within the target audience, and their user experiences are not taken into account. The designed features may no longer be beneficial to them.
Though the 10 Usability Heuristics serves as a checklist for usability evaluation, designers should not rely solely on it. Designers should also take into account guidelines such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which covers wide ranges of recommendations to make web content more accessible when they reiterate their prototype.
Next, Scott, a consultant from the Center for Inclusive Design presented the benefits of inclusive design. To my surprised, accessible websites are SEO friendly and have better search results. This sharing is shocking to me as I did not know that an accessible application can help companies to reach out to more people and bring in more revenue. Also, Scott introduced the three types of disabilities: permanent disability, situation disability and temporary disability. He pointed out that an application designed for the hearing impaired (permanent disability) can also benefit who have an ear infection (temporary disability) or those who are in a loud environment (situation disability). This topic is unexplored during the lectures. I felt that it is important to understand the benefits of an accessible design so that we will develop that accessible design mindset. Accessible design is often taken for granted. Only when you are temporarily disabled or situationally disable, you will appreciate the accessibility features.
Finally, Natasha wrapped it up with some practical tips to make the application more accessible. There are four principles of accessibility: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust, and these four principles tackle various aspects of disability such as vision, motor, hearing and cognition.
For instance, to make the application more perceivable to all, it is advised for designers to provide text for the deaf and audio for the visually-impaired. High colour contrast, patterns, headers and feedbacks are other tools to improve the user experience for the disabled. Other tips are also shared to make the user experience better for the motor and cognitive impaired individuals. I felt that some tips given are similar to those taught in class. For instance, having good colour contrast and form headers are good usability practices as well. They improve visibility and create a good level of visual hierarchy for the user. Accessible design does not need to compromise usability for the majority.
Designing for the disabled is often overlooked and not the main priority for many companies. Companies underestimated the benefits of accessible design. For instance, Microsoft advertised its Xbox adaptive controller for the disabled. Though the product is not designed for the abled-bodies, Microsoft saw a two-fold increase in their sales. Studies have shown that millennials have a higher tendency to spend more money on ethical products.
Having an accessible design cannot happen overnight. It must start way before the prototyping phase. Companies need to advocate human-centred design which is user-focused and empathise with the user’s need. From there, a culture around accessibility thinking can then be cultivated. This is an insightful conference, where it covered some gaps in the lecture which are good to know as well.
