UX Food for the Soul : 3 | Design for accessibility

Just my notes and thoughts.

Optional reading from Google UX certification on Accessibility.

Part 1 (Awareness is everything):

Outlines how you can increase your awareness of accessibility issues and check your assumptions about users.

Designing for Global Accessibility, Part I - Library - Google Design

• No two users are exactly alike. Physical and cognitive disabilities, as well as environmental factors, can inhibit people from fully engaging with technology: hardware, software, and beyond.
• Living in an increasingly globalized world means that there’s an opportunity to proactively build ethical and meaningful products that are inclusive of societies and cultures worldwide.

When we create a persona for our users, don’t just create for a general person (someone from the general public). Remember to include in underrepresented users as well. Think about if a disable (permanent, conditional or situational) person would be able to have the same experience using your solution as a general person.

• Accommodate different levels of literacy and many different languages — Don’t expect everyone to be able to read English.
• Empower your users when it comes to privacy, safety, and security

Part 2 (Context matters)

Explores why it’s critical to consider logistics during the design process, in order to expand your app’s usability and usefulness.

Designing for Global Accessibility, Part II - Library - Google Design

• Empower your users when it comes to privacy, safety, and security — don’t expect everyone to have the best technology. Keep in mind that people will be using your solution on second hand or old technology as well. We need to keep that in mind when designing something. Things might look flashy on a modern device, but if it doesn't even load on anything other than the latest technology, it beats the purpose.
• Ensure that your app functions seamlessly in intermittent networks — and when offline — Always keep someone from a rural mountain area, who have low internet speed as one of your personal when designing a solution. You can never know when your mobile internet goes on strike (at least here in India). An app which is screen reader-accessible — allowing the page to be read aloud for blind or visually impaired people — but fails to perform well on an intermittent network has limited utility.

Part 3 (Be inclusive by default)

Discusses how UX designers can make tactical decisions to create inclusive apps.

Designing for Global Accessibility, Part III - Library - Google Design

• Consider different environmental conditions as well.
• Use colors carefully, keep people with color blindness, who gets disturbed by bright colors or flashing colors. Keep cultural implications of color in mind as well.
• Make sure your design is responsive. Something might look good on a desktop but if it does not translate well in a smaller device, it beats the purpose.