Inclusive design is a design process in which a product, service or environment is designed to be accessible for as many people as possible, particularly those who are traditionally excluded.
Luckily in the past few years more and more online content has become more accessible… whether it’s the increased use to automated captions on videos, alt-text being used to describe imagery or ensuring the typography used is easy to read.
Wix.com, a well-known website building platform, has put together 7 principles of inclusive design which we’re going to delve into…
Wixs 7 principles of inclusive design
- Provide content in multiple ways
- Design with various situations in mind
- Maintain consistency and design conventions
- Create a simple and intuitive design
- Collaborate to overcome personal biases – project collaboration to gather variety of feedback
- Allow tolerance for user error – having pop ups to warn user if removing something
- Test and Measure
It can be overwhelming to consider all the ways in which your content may be viewed and how to ensure as many people as possible have access to it.
Here’s a few easy digestible tips to ensure your designs shoot for success.
Provide content in multiple ways
Make sure to add alt text to imagery, and captions to videos to ensure those who are visually impaired are still able to access your content.
Design with various solutions in mind
Many first-time users will spend longer searching for what they need, whereas your common web visitors will know instantly. Simplify initial information to ensure easy access, you could always add pop ups to ask the user whether they require more assistance.
Maintain consistency
Your branding is one of the most important assets to your company. Maintaining message consistency across your posts and social platforms will push your branding to become more recognisable.
Simple design
Don’t try and over complicate things. Simplify your web menu to ensure your site is easy to navigate. Include visuals which aren’t purely aesthetic but improve accessibility too – for example, hovering effects.
Seek collaborations
Collaborations and gathering feedback from others with different life experiences will help overcome any biases. If you involve a wide variety of individuals throughout whole lifecycle, you can improve your product as it goes through testing.
Remember, there’s always room for improvement
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Read our latest blog: ‘9 Principles of Good Product Design’
