Last updated on Dec 31, 2024

What are the benefits and challenges of designing for accessibility and inclusion?

Accessibility and inclusion are essential aspects of communication design, the practice of creating and delivering messages that are clear, engaging, and effective for diverse audiences. Communication design can benefit from applying accessibility and inclusion principles, but it also faces some challenges in doing so. In this article, you will learn what accessibility and inclusion mean, why they matter, and how to overcome some common obstacles in designing for them.

1 What is accessibility?

Accessibility is the quality of being easily perceived, understood, and used by people with different abilities, needs, and preferences. Accessibility can refer to the design of physical spaces, digital products, information, communication, and services. Accessibility is not only a legal requirement and a moral duty, but also a competitive advantage and a source of innovation.

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Rohit Bhargava

Keynote Speaker | Trend Curator | Non-Obvious Company Founder | Best-Selling Author | Listener
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Incorporating accessibility considerations right from the start of the design process can lead to innovative solutions that benefit a broader audience.

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2 What is inclusion?

Inclusion is the practice of ensuring that everyone feels welcome, valued, and respected in a given context. Inclusion can refer to the culture, policies, and practices of an organization, community, or society. Inclusion is not only a social goal and a human right, but also a source of diversity and creativity.

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Rohit Bhargava

Keynote Speaker | Trend Curator | Non-Obvious Company Founder | Best-Selling Author | Listener
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Fostering an inclusive environment can fuel innovation within organizations. Diverse perspectives and experiences lead to creative problem-solving and product development.

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3 Why are accessibility and inclusion important?

Accessibility and inclusion are essential for communication design as they allow you to reach and engage a larger audience, improve the quality and usability of your messages, and reflect your values and ethics. Designing for accessibility and inclusion can expand your audience by catering to the needs of people with disabilities, older adults, people with low literacy, people with different languages and cultures, and other marginalized or underrepresented groups. Additionally, it can enhance your reputation and credibility by showing your commitment to social responsibility, customer satisfaction, and legal compliance. Moreover, it can boost your creativity and innovation by exploring new ways of communicating, solving problems, and meeting challenges. Finally, it can reduce costs and risks by avoiding errors, complaints, lawsuits, and negative feedback.

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Rohit Bhargava

Keynote Speaker | Trend Curator | Non-Obvious Company Founder | Best-Selling Author | Listener
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Leaders who champion accessibility and inclusion can inspire their teams to create more effective and empathetic communication.

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4 How to design for accessibility?

Designing for accessibility requires following guidelines, standards, and best practices that ensure communication is accessible to everyone. Two of the most widely accepted guidelines are the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the Universal Design Principles. To design for accessibility, it’s important to conduct user research and testing with people with different abilities, needs, and preferences. Additionally, use clear and simple language, structure, and layout, as well as provide multiple modes and formats of communication such as text, audio, video, images, icons, graphs, and animations. Moreover, ensure sufficient contrast, size and spacing for text and graphics; use captions, transcripts, alt text and labels for multimedia and interactive elements; avoid or minimize flashing, moving or distracting elements; provide keyboard and screen reader support; and test your communication for accessibility using tools.

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5 How to design for inclusion?

Designing for inclusion requires adopting a mindset, attitude, and approach that values and respects the diversity of your audience. To do this, you should involve people from different backgrounds and perspectives throughout the design process. Additionally, it is important to acknowledge any biases, stereotypes, and assumptions that may affect your communication. Use language, images, and symbols that are inclusive and respectful of the diversity of your audience. Avoid or challenge any norms that may exclude or marginalize some groups or individuals. Additionally, provide choices and options for your audience to customize their communication experience. Finally, seek feedback from your audience and stakeholders on how to improve your communication for inclusion.

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6 What are the challenges of designing for accessibility and inclusion?

Designing for accessibility and inclusion can be difficult and involve certain challenges. These include a lack of awareness, resources, and support from management, as well as resistance from stakeholders or users. Additionally, complexity, ambiguity, or trade-offs may arise when attempting to accommodate the needs and preferences of different groups or individuals.

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Omar Khan

Shaping Weather Communications for Canadians • Building Systems for Weather Experts • Solving Problems for People
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Designing for accessibility presents challenges, particularly when accommodating color blindness and optimizing for screen readers. For instance, adapting a brand’s color scheme to be distinguishable for individuals with red-green color blindness may necessitate significant changes to the brand’s aesthetic. Similarly, ensuring content is compatible with screen readers requires thoughtful structuring of information. This process involves providing clear, descriptive text alternatives for visual elements and organizing content logically to facilitate seamless navigation. While these adjustments are essential for inclusivity, they can sometimes lead to more complex design layouts.

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7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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What are the benefits and challenges of designing for accessibility and inclusion?

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1 What is accessibility?

2 What is inclusion?

3 Why are accessibility and inclusion important?

4 How to design for accessibility?

5 How to design for inclusion?

6 What are the challenges of designing for accessibility and inclusion?

7 Here’s what else to consider

Communication Design

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