What Is Accessible Design?

When designing a product or service, there are different phases of the design process, one of the most crucial of which is ensuring the service is accessible. But what is accessible design and why is it important?

Accessible design enables a product, service, piece of equipment, or technology to cater to and be accessed by people with disabilities or impairments.

To read more about accessibility and what can be done to amplify accessibility during the design process read on.  

What Is Accessible Design?

Accessible design enables a product, service, piece of equipment, or technology to cater to and be accessed by people with disabilities or impairments.

Accessibility designers, for example, will intentionally design a website to ensure that persons with a disability face no barriers when utilising the given product, or service.

What must be said is that not every product or service will be accessible to everyone, but every effort should be made to make the product or service as accessible to everyone as possible.

Accessible design is used in both the online and offline world. Ramps, for example, are utilised by wheelchair users in a built environment. Web accessibility is a little different, but it works on the same principle of making a service more accessible to a wider audience and may include structured HTML information.

Why Accessible Design Is Important?

Not only is accessible design vital for inclusion, but it also expresses what the company stands for. Below, we have set out why accessible design is key.

1. The Design Is User-Friendly

Rather than simply making a website easier to use, accessible design entails improving the design aspects of a service to improve the user experience for everyone.</span>

<span>2. Inclusivity

<p>Incorporating accessible design into a service or product suggests a more equal and inclusive organisation for which people may want to work for. It represents that the company values all individuals and does not tolerate discrimination or prejudice.

3. Policy

It is now practically every company’s policy to create a fair and equal work environment, and this begins at the very beginning during the design phase of a product. The implementation of accessible design into a service demonstrates that the company is committed to equality.

4. Business </h3>

Design accessibility is being incorporated into more and more business plans because it showcases an organisations level of expertise. Using accessible design demonstrates that the organisation is committed to learning new approaches and enhancing their business prospects; to effectively promote their product and maintain a competitive advantage.

Who Is Accessible Design Aimed At?

Accessible design is intended for people who have a disability or impairment. Accessible design is also not just for persons with evident physical disabilities, but also for those with less visible difficulties too.

Below we have listed some of the disabilities which accessible design is aimed towards to enhance their user experience.

• Blind/Visual impairment
• Dyslexia
• Dyspraxia
• Autism
• ADHD
• Deafness/hard of hearing
• Mental health
• Motor disabilities
• And much more…

How To Use Accessible Design Effectively

With a wide range of disabilities, all with their own set of needs, there are numerous basic accessible design strategies to include in a website, service, or product.

We’ve compiled a collection of f=”https://accessibility.blog.gov.uk/2016/09/02/dos-and-donts-on-designing-for-accessibility/”>accessible design recommendations that will cater to a wide range of people.

• <span>Image alt text
• Large and Bold Fonts
• Captioning
• Subtitles
• Structure content using HTMLs

Accessible Design at PixelTree Project

Accessible design is something that we can make achievable for your company. We can design your service or product so that it is accessible to everyone and that no barriers are met when using the service.

If this sounds like something you might be interested in, please give us a call and we will be pleased to meet any of your requirements.