The principle of accessibility asserts that designs should be usable by people of diverse abilities, without special adaptation or modification. Historically, accessibility in design is focused on accommodating people with disabilities.
As knowledge and experience of accessible design increased, it became increasingly clear that many “accommodations” could be designed to benefit everyone. There are four characteristics of accessible designs:
- Perceptibility
- Simplicity
- Operability
- Forgiveness.
Perceptibility is achieved when everyone can perceive the design, regardless of sensory abilities. Basic guidelines for improving perceptibility are: present information using redundant coding methods (e.g., textual, iconic, and tactile); provide compatibility with assistive sensory technologies (e.g., ALT tags for images on the Internet); and position controls and information so that seated and standing users can perceive them.
A good example of perception is Android interface struggle with its icon designs over that of Apple’s platform. We can see that Apple’s design principles for all of their UX/UI platforms are extremely unified and intuitive. They have studied and designed every single aspect of your visual perception and made sure that what you visually interact with touches upon all your sensory desires. Or take a look at the doors around big organizations, we have ‘Pull or Push’ sometimes, we have them in pictorial form, this helps the easy understanding of the how the door can be operated.
Simplicity is achieved when everyone can easily understand and use the design, regardless of experience, literacy, or concentration level. Basic guidelines for improving simplicity are: remove unnecessary complexity; clearly and consistently code and label controls and modes of operation; use progressive disclosure to present only relevant information and controls; provide clear prompting and feedback for all actions; and ensure that reading levels accommodate a wide range of literacy.
Operability is achieved when everyone can use the design, regardless of physical abilities. Basic guidelines for improving operability are: minimize repetitive actions and the need for sustained physical effort; facilitate use of controls through good affordances and constraints; provide compatibility with assistive physical technologies (e.g., wheelchair access); and position controls and information so that seated and standing users can access them.
Good example of Operability is WhatsApp, it is a phone app but it is easy to operate it either on a smartphone or a laptop; looking at the tables in our offices these days, the height suit everyone, either children or the people on wheelchair, making it easy for them to make use of the tables.
Forgiveness is achieved when designs minimize the occurrence and consequences of errors. Basic guidelines for improving forgiveness are: use good affordances and constraints (e.g., controls that can only be used the correct way) to prevent errors from occurring; use confirmations and warnings to reduce the occurrence of errors; and include reversible actions and safety nets to minimize the consequence of errors (e.g., the ability to undo an action).
In conclusion, to have a very great accessibility in your design, all characteristics of accessibility must be followed and fully utilized, so doing your design will serve as a reference point to all other designers.
Written By: Awwal Sunday Adeoye
IG: Aimoc_Visuals
Facebook: Adeoye Awwal Abu Da’wah
LinkedIn: Awwal Sunday Adeoye
Twitter: Abu Da’wah
