Human-Centred by Default

First off, accessibility isn't boring

I believe there is a not so quiet myth in software management and development that accessibility means compromise. "Legislation" that needs to be met for compliance, disturbing the creative vision by burdening the tech team with, gosh forbid... rules.

Accessible design isn't about adding constraints. If you see it that way, then understand those constraints to guide your creative vision, to inform it. When we stop designing around people or for them, and start designing with them we as community create good design.

Constraints provide a means for creative expression.

Accessibility Works for Everyone

Take curb cuts for an example, originally designed for wheelchair accessibility and now enjoyed by parents with strollers, cyclists, luggage carts, and more. This is what good design does, it meets a need in one place and ends up being used by many.

• Accessible design should just work, for more than one mind, one body, one context.
• Accessible design is inherently more legible, spacious and intuitive.
• Accessible design is easier to understand, easier to interact and egage with, and easier to repeatedly use.
• Accessible design doesn't fight for attention, it doesn't influence or persuade.
• Accessible design earns trust that's respected.

Accessibility is not accidental, it's the result of empathy applied as craft.

When you design for access, you're designing from a place of care. That means thinking about how the experience may contrast for different folks. It means thinking about how different abilities will navigate the system or use/interact with the design. It means thinking about how you can be inclusive, by also revewing for parts of the design that may exclude.

Once you see access, it cannot be unseen.

This #GAAD let's be mindful and notice where our systems/designs fall short. Imagine how they can be better and implement it. Design is an ethical act, and good design is timeless. The most resilient, future-forward designs are the ones that respond to change and that can adapt with dignity, as change is truly a known inevitable constant.

When I say accessible design is good design, I'm not being performative... I am being practical, strategic, and utilitarian. Accessible design isn't just made for some, it's created for all.

— Signed, Summer ✍️