Designers. there’s no excuse for accessibility as an afterthought
· Creative Bloq
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As a heavily visual medium, graphic design is sometimes guilty of treating accessibility as an afterthought. Whether it's the result of a preconceived notion that inclusivity equals less dynamic design, or simply that the practice has become a box-ticking formality, it's a crucial yet continuously overlooked element of the creative process.
To understand the importance of accessible design, I caught up with Something Familiar's creative director, Kane Hawkins, to discuss what he learned designing a brand identity for Onvero's blind CEO, Sandi Wassmer. From unlearning baked-in habits to embracing the value of conversation, inclusive design is more accessible than we might think, but it starts with a change in attitude.
Why is inclusive design so important?
Design is one of many ways that shape how people experience the world – and if we're not designing for everyone, you could argue we’re effectively designing against someone. Inclusive design should question your assumptions, and that always leads to better experiences for all. What [Onvero] has shown us is that inclusion isn’t a niche consideration, but really the standard we should all be working to.
Why is accessible design often an afterthought in the creative industry?
Habit, assumption, and a tendency to believe that accessible design results in boring creative. If you're working from a place of your own experience, and accessibility hasn't been part of that – your training, or professional culture – it simply doesn't come up.
There's also a structural problem: accessibility checks tend to happen at the end of a project, making it costly and difficult to backtrack and make changes, since the design is largely locked in. Until studios build accessibility into their briefs and kick-off conversations rather than their QA process, it'll keep being treated as a bolt-on. Onvero is proof that the opposite approach produces strategically and creatively sound work.
What's an accessible design detail that's easy to integrate, but often overlooked?
Not relying on colour alone to communicate meaning. It sounds simple, but it's one of the most common accessibility failures in design and one of the easiest to fix. Around 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some form of colour vision deficiency. If things like presenting urgent messaging with solely red text, or showing chart categories distinguished only by colour, a significant portion of your audience could lose clarity. We incorporate a second signal here: an icon, a label, a pattern or texture. That approach costs almost nothing and makes the design work for everyone.
From a broader brand perspective, we still see value in the classic test: if your design were printed in black and white, would the meaning still hold? If yes, you're probably in good shape. If not, colour is doing work it shouldn't have to do alone.
How can brands ensure their design is accessible?
If you have access to it, consult with people with lived experience. That’s one of the most valuable things Onvero gave us. If you're not working with people who experience accessibility barriers firsthand, you’re missing a vital voice. If you have access to consultants, advisors, or community partners who can challenge your assumptions early, when it's still easy to change course – ask.
Find out more about Something Familiar.
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