Accessibility: 4 easy-to-follow methods for everyone
Being aware about accessible design and helpful methods! Tips on how to make information we constantly upload on the Web accessible!
Accessibility does not serve only blind users! Accessible products help everyone and can look equally beautiful as products that don’t follow the guidelines. An interface cannot be made accessible just by using an automated checker or an accessible theme!
Read Colleen Gratzer’s article on the ‘9 myths about accessibility’
The people who may use digital products and services designed by us include the following —
Inclusive Design, Universal Design, and Accessible Design are defined as creating products that everyone can use irrespective of the disabilities that a user might have.
I started my journey in Accessible Design after I got hold of a couple of badges that IBM had offered. This immensely broadened the knowledge I had within this field and got me interested in wanting to learn more and write about it!
Basics of Accessibility Design
While designing for the web, people with the following conditions must be considered — those who have some kind of physical disabilities, those who are hard of hearing or deaf, users who are blind, or users who have been diagnosed with some kind of cognitive disabilities.
When we decide to design content that is accessible and inclusive, it is not just catering to people who have been diagnosed with some kind of disabilities, we are also designing for our future selves. Some of us might face a hearing disability at a later point in life, a few of us might get high power reading glasses which might make it difficult for us to read content.
Having a physical disability may involve a user not being able to have access to a device like a mouse or the track pad on our laptops. Such users may depend on ‘assistive technology’ while interacting with devices, these include keyboards, trackballs, sip and puff devices, and voice recognition.
Apple has done a lot of great work when it comes to giving access to users with physical disabilities. I would highly recommend watching the following videos in order to gain better understanding of how users with physical disabilities may use interfaces.
Accessibility should always be considered from the beginning. It should be integrated into the design right from when the product is in its embryonic stages. If this is not considered from the beginning, it will add to a lot of technical debt.
Practicing Accessible Design
Creating Personas………………………1
Performing Bodystorming………………2
Experiencing Situational Disabilities……3
Following the POUR Guidelines………….4
1. Creating Personas
When we design a product, the core responsibility of doing this correctly right from the beginning lies with the user researcher. If the user researcher understands how people with different abilities or restrictions would use their product or service, they will pass this empathy to other team members who are part of designing this product or service. Designing universal and inclusive products is always a team effort. While we create personas in the beginning in order to design a products or service, we should always remember to include a persona who faces some kind of disability.
When a persona is created, we will end up doing quite a lot of research on the kind of activities/ actions a person facing the disability we have selected is able to perform. This often serves as a reminder about ways that persona would interact with a new feature we are designing.
Below are a few personas that I have created keeping in mind accessibility and inclusive design —
Please feel free to download/ print/ copy/ modify these based on your project requirements. Print them out and paste them on the wall with your project’s other personas so that we can together build products and services that are accessible.
Certain pointers that will help us in designing accessible products and services for users like Simona who have been diagnosed with dyslexia
For Simona…
- use images and diagrams to support text
- align text to the left and keep a consistent layout
- consider producing materials in other formats
- keep content short, clear and simple
- let users change the contrast between background and text
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
Certain pointers that will help us in designing accessible products and services for users like Sushant who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis.
For Sushant…
- make large clickable actions
- give form fields space
- design for keyboard or speech only use
- design with mobile and touch screen in mind provide shortcuts
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
Certain pointers that will help us in designing accessible products and services for users like Saleem who are deaf
For Saleem…
- write in plain English
- use subtitles or provide transcripts for video
- use a linear, logical layout
- break up content with sub-headings, images and videos
- let users ask for their preferred communication support
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
Certain pointers that will help us in designing accessible products and services for users like Vrinda who are screen readers as they are severely sight impaired
For Vrinda…
- use good contrasts and a readable font size
- use a combination of colour, shapes and text
- ensure text flows and is visible when text is magnified to 200%
- put buttons and notifications in context
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
Certain pointers that will help us in designing accessible products and services for users like Mohini who use a magnifier as they are visually impaired
For Mohini…
- describe images and provide transcripts for video
- follow a linear, logical layout
- structure content using HTML5
- build for keyboard use only
- write descriptive links and heading — for example, Contact us
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
Certain pointers that will help us in designing accessible products and services for users like Deepak who are old and suffer from multiple conditions
For Deepak…
Keep in mind all the information that we have gone through above, as Deepak suffers from multiple conditions due to old age - such as arthritis, deteriorating vision, hearing loss, etc.
2. Performing Bodystorming
Bodystorming is one of the best methods to understand users who are differently-abled. It can be performed at any given stage in the process of designing a product. In my opinion it is most effective when done in the research phase, post which it should be performed at regular intervals.
When a team practices bodystorming, they get a first hand experience about the surroundings in which a device or service is going to be used in. This gives the designers insight into what the problems the people using it could face and they could then design accordingly.
Below is a series of images from a workshop on bodystorming that took place at ‘Obvious’ in Bangalore in order to understand the difficulties that might be faced by the users of the ‘Simple’ app.
However, bodystorming is not as effective as qualitative research. If the team does not have time to conduct on-site qualitative research, this can be an option. It is always a good addition to the research phase but should not be replace qualitative research.
3. Experiencing Situational Disabilities
If we design a product that abides by the accessibility principles, we are automatically designing for situational accessibility. Enacting such scenarios and using the product or service we are designing under such circumstances might enable us to understand the difficulties these people face.
(i)
How might we design products that don’t rely completely on sound or hearing in order to trigger a response or communication?
- A user traveling to another city for a business meeting. This user has to either take a train or travel by air to the destination of their client or the location of their factory. This user is receiving continuous calls regarding the work or schedule they have for the visit. These include calls from their family to check on their travel or flight status. There may even be some critical/ urgent calls from the client regarding deliverables which need to be communicated with the team that works out of the office they are based in. The airport or train station is an extremely noisy place, this noise is unavoidable. Announcements happen all the time regarding departures, delays, etc. People around are also talking on their phones. This example gives rise to a situation where the user is unable to hear anything accurately.
(ii)
How might we design interfaces that might be outdoor-light friendly?
- A food delivery agent delivering our food, or a postman trying to locate an address while navigating. These users face a situational disability as they are using the app designed for the company they work for (which is the product in this case) in outdoor light. This makes it extremely hard for them to see the content on the screens.
(iii)
How might we design interfaces that adapt to different screen sizes? How might we design content or layouts that are easily readable when zoomed in and out?
- A user whose phone size is smaller compared to others. This user has a smaller screen and hence all the content appears smaller than it usually does in regular sized phones. There are well-known merits of having a phone with a smaller screen. As we are well aware, due to popular demand Apple has launched the SE series of iPhones a few years back. The size of this phone is extremely user-friendly as a person can use the phone entirely with just one hand/ thumb. There is no need to use two fingers while navigating through he phone due to its size, but at the same time this size can give rise to text appearing small. The user might have to squint/ strain their eyes so that they can read the content that is presented to them.
(iv)
How might we design products that can cater to users with physical disabilities?
Can we think of any way to design these other than just relying on voice user interfaces?
- A user who has a child in one hand and grocery bags in the other. This user is going to find it extremely hard to interact with any kind of device that requires them to use their hands. They have to place the child or grocery bags on the ground which is very inconvenient. Can something like a ‘Siri’ or an ‘Alexa’ be helpful in such a scenario? These users might have to depend on a device that operates on voice recognition. The same difficulty will be faced by a user who is driving a car and has to answer an urgent call, we often see them use hands-free or connecting their phones to the car’s speakers via Bluetooth. These are the same difficulties a user who has a physical disability might face.
I would highly recommend you to read
H Locke’s article on ‘9 ways to make social media content accessible’
Unless we put ourselves in the shoes of people who experience certain disabilities, we will not be able to do justice. If we are part of a team that is re-designing a hospital space, we could start with sitting in a wheelchair and navigating through the hospital.
This will bring to light many spaces that are not accessible to people that are wheelchair-bound. This would not come to light by just walking around and ‘imagining’ how a person who is physically disabled would navigate the space. We have to ‘experience’ it ourselves in order to do justice to the design.
4. Following the POUR Guidelines
At a more higher level web-accessibility can be summarized in four principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust. This means that any content that is present on the web or an interface must be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. Unless all these principles are fulfilled, the differently-abled will not be able to use the web successfully.
Perceivable
The content presented should be visible to at least one of the user’s senses. A user should be able to perceive the content that is presented to them in the form of an interface or Web page.
Operable
Making sure the differently-abled can use and interact with content. The components and navigation that has been designed must be operable.
Understandable
Ensuring the content is readable and understandable. A user must be able to understand the information and operation of the interface they are presented or come across with.
Robust
The content needs to be robust enough and work with assistive technologies and not break these technologies. A user should be able to interpret the content through various user agents, including assistive technologies.
To learn more please visit the W3AG 2.0 table of contents:
Understanding POUR Guidelines
Watch out for the next couple of articles I will be writing!
Part II — Deep dive into web-accessibility!
This article will dive deep into guidelines that are apple particularly to the fields of visual design, user experience design, and designing the information architecture if products and services.
Part III — Practicing and acing it!
This article will have a focus on how we can be sensitive while we upload content on the Web. With everything going virtual and online, it is extremely important to consider accessibility guidelines especially while we contribute to the social media.
