5 Principles for Facilitating Greater Accessibility Within Product and Service Design

As designers, we must ensure that the products and services we put into the world are usable and inclusive for all individuals, regardless of their abilities.

Here are five principles to help you design, develop, build, and maintain accessible products and services.

1. Apply a User-Centred Design (UCD) Approach and Perform Inclusive Research

By embracing a user-centric design approach, we not only ensure that our design process captures and reflects a wide range of user needs, but we also demonstrate our commitment to making our products and services truly inclusive and accessible for all. This approach directly impacts the end users, making them feel valued and considered in the design process.

We must ensure that user research includes participants with various abilities and backgrounds to gain insights into their specific needs, preferences, and challenges. Without this valuable insight, we may design solutions not accessible by all users.

2. Use Clear Communication and Simple Language

It is vital that users can easily (and with no prior knowledge or training) use our products and services effectively and efficiently.

Using clear and concise language is not just a suggestion; it's a crucial part of our commitment to accessibility. It helps users quickly understand how to navigate and use our products and services, and it's essential for those with diverse cognitive abilities and varying language proficiency.

Where possible, we should strive to provide information and documentation in multiple formats, such as text, audio, and video to accommodate different learning styles and disabilities. Modern technologies have facilitated the fast, easy, and cost-effective production of multi-format and multi-language content creation, making this a viable option for more projects.

Products and services should adhere to WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standards to ensure that websites and applications are accessible to people with disabilities.

Search engines (such as Google) will often favour WCAG compliant content, aiding searchability once a service has gone live. One key principle we should adhere to is that a service should be 'easy to find' — so improving searchability is an excellent step in the right direction.

Accessible customer support channels, such as text-based chat, asynchronous messaging, or support through video relay services, accommodate diverse communication needs. For instance, a text-based chat allows users with hearing impairments to communicate effectively, while a video relay service enables users with speech impairments to interact.

Digital channels offer many benefits to both users and service providers; however, we must ensure that users can easily reach out for human assistance should they require it.

3. Facilitate Adaptive and Inclusive Technologies and Physical Spaces

Choosing technology and tools that are compatible with assistive devices, such as screen readers, braille displays, or alternative input devices, and software interfaces that are navigable using keyboard shortcuts and other assistive technologies is a key step in ensuring products and services are accessible to users with additional needs. 

In these instances, the flow of a page or screen should be carefully considered, as this will dramatically affect the useability of the content for users using keyboard inputs to navigate between input boxes or on-screen UI interfaces.

A comprehensive Design System considering default, focus/ selected, hover and pressed states for user interaction elements is essential for all users, especially those using assistive keyboards, as this will help them navigate digital products more successfully.

Easily switchable user interfaces such as language selection, subtitle toggling, type size options, voiceover activation, contrast preferences, and light/dark modes should also be considered part of our best-practice approach to accessible design.

Ensure that physical spaces, such as offices, stores, or event venues, are designed with accessibility in mind. This could include providing ramps and elevators for users with mobility challenges, ensuring clear signage for users with visual impairments, and offering quiet spaces for users with sensory sensitivities.

Suppose a physical space is not accessible (due to an unadaptable building). In that case, it should be clearly sign-posted within the appointment booking or pre-attendance phase to avoid wasted journeys and undue distress to users with mobility needs.

4. Provide Training and Build Awareness of Accessibility Within your Organisation

We want to build a culture within our organisations that sees serving users with accessibility needs as business as usual and not as an exception. Providing training to staff members on accessibility awareness (including how to assist individuals with additional needs) helps to promote and normalise accessibility within our products and services.

Accessibility is increasingly being written into law, so staying informed and complying with accessibility standards and regulations applicable to your industry and region is essential to ensure users' legal needs are met and avoid fines.

5. Establish Feedback Loops and Seek out Collaboration with Advocacy Groups

When we establish mechanisms for users to provide feedback on accessibility issues, we're not just collecting data; we're gaining valuable insight into real-world user experiences of our products and services. This insight is a goldmine that can inform future design choices and programs of work, ensuring that we're always meeting user needs.

Collaborating with advocacy groups and organisations, such as disability rights groups or accessibility-focused NGOs, can help product and service providers gain valuable insights, feedback, and guidance on improving user accessibility. Services such as the UK government's Find a Community Support Group or Organisation can help you connect with advocacy groups pertinent to your product or service.

The world is constantly evolving, so employing continuous improvement processes, such as regularly assessing and improving the accessibility of your products and services based on user feedback, changes in technology, and the latest best practices, helps ensure your products and services are fit for purpose and continue to meet our user's needs. This could involve conducting regular accessibility audits, staying updated on accessibility guidelines, and implementing user feedback into design iterations.

In Summary

When creating a new service or reviewing an existing one, we should consider the above points to ensure we create experiences that will benefit all our users.

By incorporating accessibility principles into the design and delivery of our products and services, our organisations can create more inclusive and equitable experiences for all users, fostering a positive impact on the overall customer experience and perception of our organisations.