Going Beyond the Buzzword:
Making Accessibility Accessible
Co-created a 43 card deck for UX designers to consciously integrate accessibility throughout their design process.
Studied the mental models of designers and researchers related to inclusive design practices.
🏛️ ORGANIZATION
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Purdue University
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CoLiberation Lab (Dr. Rua Williams)
👩🏻💻 ROLE
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End-to-end UXer (Personal Project)
📝 RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES
01. Secondary Research
02. Semi-structured Interviews
03. Thick Description + Deductive Analysis
04. Co-design Workshop
05. Usability Testing
🏆 RECOGNITION
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Best Capstone Award, Purdue University
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The Access Deck has been pre-registered by 26+ UX Designers and 4+ mid-sized Design Teams.
🏞️ Context: Why Accessibility Needs a Deeper Approach
Accessibility (A11y or Ally) is often misunderstood and oversimplified. It's reduced to a checklist of basic adjustments: alt text, font size, and color contrast. In reality, accessibility is far more complex and essential, addressing deeper considerations that affect all users, not just those with disabilities. Despite growing recognition, only 3% of the internet is fully accessible. Many design teams still treat accessibility as an afterthought, something to address at the end of a project.
Accessibility should be intentional, woven into every stage of design. This realization fueled my passion and led me to embark on an exploratory research project to uncover what accessibility truly means in practice, beyond the buzzwords and superficial fixes.
🎥 Prefer a Video over Text? Watch the end-to-end Presentation
🤔 Research Questions
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What are the differing practices and perspectives on a11y between industry and academia?
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How is a11y understood, and what challenges hinder its effective implementation?
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In what ways does an individual’s background shape their approach to a11y?
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How can the gap between perception and reality in a11y design be bridged?
📝 Research Approach: Kickstarting the Study
02. Primary Research: Interviews for a Deeper Look
The 60-minute interviews were conducted online via Zoom or Google Meets. Participants, recruited through social media, included a mix of researchers and designers from both academia and industry. They had diverse backgrounds and experience levels, with an average of 2 years working on A11y projects or teams. Thick notes were taken during the interviews for analysis.
11 Semi-structured Interviews
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7 participants from Academia + 4 from Industry
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5 Researchers + 6 Designers
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At least 1 year of experience on A11y related projects
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Interviews lasted for approximately 60 minutes
03. Analysis: Deductive Frameworks + Thick Descriptive Analysis
Deductive Theme Identification: Initial themes were derived from research questions, providing a structured framework for analysis.
Thick description: Detailed notes were applied to each theme, enhancing understanding of participant's experience and perspective.
Contextual Analysis: Examined how themes manifested across participants, considering their diverse backgrounds and experiences. This process involved relating emerging insights to existing literature.
This iterative approach helped bridge the gap between established accessibility concepts and the lived experiences of participants.
01. Secondary Research: Gaining a Broad Understanding
Literature Review
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Accessibility and disability studies
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Crip Human Computer Interaction (HCI)
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Design Methods and Studies
I explored relevant literature across domains to address key questions emerging from interviews. This research helped triangulate findings and deepen my understanding of designers' mental models. Additionally, I conducted thorough research on existing accessibility frameworks and current practices in big tech, which significantly influenced the design, rationale, and content of the proposed solution.
Existing Frameworks
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Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2)
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Americans with Disability Act (ADA)
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Section 508
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A11y guidelines from Microsoft, Apple, and Google
🔍 Key Insights
01. Differences in Perspective: Contrasting mental Models of Practitioners
Academics tend to have a deeper awareness of A11y due to their research-driven focus. Industry practitioners, despite recognizing its importance, often hold a more superficial understanding, prioritizing client demands and revenue over inclusive design, which they often view as benefiting only a small audience.
02. Several A11y Frameworks: Reinventing the Wheel is Unnecessary
Comprehensive guidelines exist for both physical and digital A11y, but are often heavily generalized, voluminous, and scattered. The focus should shift to adapting and contextualizing these guidelines for industry or individuals' needs.
I mean, the landscape is so vast, where do you start? It is just too complex and not always relevant. [...] I did work in an a11y team, but honestly, I never read the WCAG documentation in-depth. There are other priorities and deadlines. Who has the time?
- Participant 2
03. Personal Background Influences Perspective: Co-relation Exists!
Exposure to people with disabilities or
personal experiences, views and beliefs
Awareness, motivation, or openness
toward designing for A11y
💰Identified Opportunity Space
How might we create an A11y Toolkit
that helps practitioners, specifically UX Designers,
embed A11y design and practices into their design process?
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The toolkit must be tailored for designers, allowing for personalization to navigate requirements in their work.
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It should also resonate with the resources available to them and address the limitations they face.
💡 Proposed Solution: The Access Deck
The User Manual
It is a compact guide explaining the deck's contents.
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What is in the deck?
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How and when to use the deck?
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How to read the Yellow WCAG cards?
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Understanding WCAG 2.2 Guideliens
The contents of the manual were finalized post testing and feedback sessions.
The Access Deck: A kickstarter into the A11y world
A 43-card deck tailored for UX Designers to consciously integrate accessibility through their design process. The deck consists of the following components:
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The User Manual
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Cover and Introductory Cards (image on the left)
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Yellow WCAG Cards
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Red Persona Cards
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Blue Activity Cards
11 Persona Cards
What are Persona cards?
Persona cards represent users with diverse needs, including permanent, temporary, and situational disabilities across 5 senses. These cards follow a typical persona layout and also include relevant WCAG SC that may be used.
Why and when to use Persona cards?
Persona cards help disrupt ingrained biases as they highlight how A11y extends beyond just disabled users. Designers can use these cards during initial stages of their design process - brainstorming, user studies, or persona creation.
10 Activity Cards
What are Activity cards?
These cards inspire designers to integrate A11y into their process. Each card features a prompt on one side and points to consider or examples on the other, sparking thoughtful action.
When to use Activity cards?
These cards are versatile, derived from insights and common industry challenges from research, and are designed for reuse across various projects. Designers can utilize them individually or collaboratively with their team.
20 Yellow WCAG Cards
What are WCAG Cards?
WCAG cards are based on the 87 success criteria (SC) of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2). There are 20 such cards based on 20 SC which are simplified and made relevant for UX Designers. They are further color-coded and categorized by POUR principles, making them easily navigable.
When can WCAG cards be used?
These cards integrate A11y practices into designs upfront, minimizing the need for retrofitting later on. Designers may use these cards while designing low, mid, or high fidelity screens or while testing for A11y.
Why WCAG 2.2 was chosen over other existing frameworks?
WCAG is an international standard for digital A11y. It was selected due to its comprehensive coverage and detailed approach to individual components. Many other policies also reference WCAG 2.2.
💁🏻♀️ User -Tested, User -Approved : Usability Testing
2 initial versions of the Access Deck were tested with 16 experienced UX Designers - 7 previous research and 9 new participants. The participants were given select cards of the Deck and were asked to perform 3 tasks.
T1 - Interpretation & Initial Impressions
Participants were given the deck without any instructions and asked to interpret its purpose.
T2 - Activity Card:
‘Design Detective’
Participants were asked to perform the activity ‘Design Detective’ and reflect on their experience.
T3 - Desirability, Reflection,
& Feedback
Participants were surveyed on card usage, preferences, potential modifications, and envisioned utility.
Card-stock Prototype of an Initial Version of the Access Deck
Testing resulted in minor changes like:
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Standardizing WCAG card color while internally color-coding for POUR guidelines,
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Resequencing sub-decks, and
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Refining the user manual contents.
All these changes are reflected in the current version of ‘The Access Deck’. Overall, all participants expressed high desirability for the deck and identified preferred use stages in their design process, underscoring its value and usability.
☄️ Impact: Rising Interest in the Access Deck
The Access Deck has been well-received by research participants and early users. Over 26 early-career and mid-level designers have pre-registered for a personal deck, and 5+ mid-sized design companies are interested in team decks or an online version. I have also been invited to present research talks and demos at 2 universities and 3 design teams.
These cards are amazing as a kickstarter or a personal deck for designing for accessibility. I would love to have a deck for myself and my team. We have been working on making our designs more accessible and inclusive and these cards are a perfect toolkit and aid for our designers.
- Senior UX Designer, Energy Sector
Something about the new Spotify app design always bothered me but I did not understand what it was... couldn't point my finger at what exactly was wrong! These WCAG cards helped me quickly identify the problem areas and now I know how to address them.
- Early Career UX Designer (Testing Participant)
I would love to have them in the classroom, you know, to use during classes or for my projects, portfolio, and projects. It would be great during brainstorming, for considering different personas, and may be while sketching or creating mid-fidelity.
- UX Designer and Professor
Accessibility is important ... but it has sort of become a buzzword with surface level application, at least, when, you know, your target audience aren't people with disabilities. The Access Deck actually helps understand that it (A11y) is not just for disabled users, but has application and benefits beyond.
- Product Designer, mid-sized tech company
🤝 Together we can: Begin your A11y Journey or Shape the Future of A11y!
If you'd like to learn more about my research, have questions or feedback on the Access Deck, want a personal copy of the deck, or just want to chat about Accessibility, I’d love to connect!
Feel free to email me, or better yet, fill out the form. ♥️
👥 Co-design Sessions and Takeaways
Realizing that every designer's needs and role may differ, I opted to co-create the toolkit with my target group - entry and mid-level UX designers.
Structure of Co-design Sessions
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2 in-person co-design sessions
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Duration: 2 hours each
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Participants: 6-7 per session (13 total)
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Participant profile: UX design students and professionals with 0-4 years of industry experience
6 Session Activities Focused on:
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Understanding participants' approaches to design prompts
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Identifying common challenges in incorporating A11y and inclusive design principles
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Exploring desired features, content, and rationale for an ideal A11y toolkit
Though the activities, I observed emergent patterns in participants' designs and responses, shedding light on their needs, wants, and mental models.
Participants expressed a desire for a toolkit that is Personalized, Simplified and Quick, and Exemplary and Reflective.
👀 Sneak Peek: Proposed Solution - 'The Access Deck'
The outcome of this exploratory project is 'The Access Deck,' a 43-card deck tailored for Designers (entry to mid level UX or Product Designers). These cards simplify accessibility guidelines and best practices and help embed accessibility integrations consciously throughout the design process, in a quick, easy, and effective way.