My main take away for this week’s lesson is that it is important to have people with disabilities in mind; not only those with physical limitations but also those with invisible disabilities. For example someone who’s colour blind, has eye sight problems, cognitive problems, auditory issues and more.
We looked at at how accessible designs are stronghold when it comes to designing for users, it showcases an inclusive mindset. This something that was covered in one of last year’s lectures and ever since then I have instinctively verified my designs with colour and contrast checkers to ensure that everything is accessible.
Another thing we explored was how UI can sometimes be confusing especially when it comes to clickable elements/ buttons. It is imperative that our users don’t think whether something is clickable or not, all design should be concise and easy to comprehend. Clickable things should stand out from surrounding design elements; and the use of descriptive language ensures clarity throughout the UI.
My tutor mentioned how most designers us Apple’s accessibility guideline as the foundation to their designs. Henceforth I have decided to take it upon myself to look further into it as I believe that accessibility is the main foundation when it comes to designing.
Upon doing some research I came across this section and it reminded me of the Universal Design which was discussed in class today. This type of design rather has accessibility features implemented in it to its best ability to ensure easy use for all. As seen in the image below the switches showcase an “on” and “off” label in them, instead of having them out of the design element; this can be considered as a universal design because the design element was created with the switch icons in it. This makes the UI accessible and easy to comprehend.
Another interesting factor about Apple’s accessibility guideline is Voice Over and Content Description and how it offers clarity to the user by describing content or action that needs to be taken. I found this intriguing as it is a feature that I have already implemented in my SDG project
This was a very insightful thing to learn. And I will definitely remember to implement this in my future projects as this will help avoid confusion.
Accessibility | Apple Developer Documentation
In today’s lecture I have come to appreciate accessible features more. The main take away from this lesson is that accessible content is the core foundation in a good UI because it allows a streamlined user experience; by considering users with disabilities and integrating accessible features we can achieve a good UX that fulfils the demographics needs without encountering issues when using an app or website.