9 Resources That Will Help You Design Accessible Digital Products
Build accessible and inclusive digital products
With the rise of design thinking, there has been a lot of emphasis on customer experience. Designers conduct customer research, set up focus groups, perform user testing, and pay attention to the tiniest detail of human behavior while coming up with a product. We have seen some great products coming out to the market as a result of this customer obsession.
However, the customer that these product designers are obsessed over is a perfect human being who can read, see, type, speak, or hear. Unfortunately, some of us have physical disabilities who can’t read, type, see or hear.
Who is obsessing over the customer experience of these users?
Fortunately, the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium has come up with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). They are a set of recommendations for making Web content more accessible, primarily for people with disabilities. Also, governments across the world are making these standards mandatory.
If you are a designer or a developer tasked with building an accessible digital product, the below list will help you build a product that delivers an amazing user experience while keeping it accessible as per WCAG standards.
1. a11y Project
The A11Y Project is a community-driven effort to make digital accessibility easier.
2. Accessible Brand Colors
This tool shows you how ADA compliant your colors are in relation to each other.
3. Color Safe
A tool that empowers designers with beautiful and accessible color palettes based on WCAG Guidelines of text and background contrast ratios
4. Color Review
Know the WGAC level (AA or AAA) for your color choices in real-time.
5. a11yengineer
Accessibility Acceptance Criteria & checklist for Engineers.
6. A11ygator
Validate your website for accessibility in real-time and get a report with recommendations to improve your WGAC rating.
7. WGAC Explanation for Animations
A great blog that explains WGAC for animations.
8. Accessible SVGs
A great guide on building accessible SVGs
9. Color Palette Generator
A real-time accessible color palette generator
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