Practical Steps 
to Take Toward Accessible Design

Designing for accessibility isn’t just a checklist—it’s a mindset. A commitment to inclusive design reflects a deeper understanding of how humans interact with technology in all their diversity. And when we prioritize accessibility, we don’t just help a subset of users, we improve the experience for everyone.

Perfection isn’t the goal

The best thing you can do when designing a website is to keep accessibility in mind and try to accommodate people with disabilities. The W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) offers three levels of conformance: A, AA, and AAA. WCAG points out that getting to AAA level for an entire site is not recommended and often not possible. Getting to A level is a great place to start and will allow millions of people to have a more positive experience with your product. Every step you take towards getting to the next level of conformance will make the experience that much better for more and more people. You won’t have to sacrifice aesthetics, achieving A and AA levels shouldn’t hurt the visual design or brand of your website or product.

Here’s where to start

1. Build accessibility into your personas

One of the most effective ways to embed accessibility into your product is to account for it from the start. To keep accessibility in your conversations and designs, give one of your personas a disability. Make them blind or low vision, deaf, or limited mobility (particularly with their hands). This approach reflects a behavioral design principle: we’re more likely to consider a perspective when it’s made personally salient.

2. Color cues work best with reinforcement

Color can be a good tool to draw a user’s attention, but using color as your only method of communication is a major oversight. People who are colorblind, have low vision or cognitive conditions rely on additional cues. When designing form errors, for instance, don’t just use red outlines—pair them with icons, labels, or text instructions. And make sure your color palette passes WCAG contrast standards (at least level AA). Tools like this contrast checker can help.

3. “Skip navigation” links remove barriers to entry

Think of how many times you’ve scrolled past a long menu to get to the main content. Now imagine doing that with a keyboard or screen reader—pressing the tab key 40 or 100 times to reach the first headline. Adding a hidden “skip to content” link at the top of your page dramatically reduces that friction. It’s a small change with outsized impact. This is a great example of removing barriers, helping users achieve their goal with fewer steps.

4. Include a person with a disability in your user testing

There’s no better way to identify accessibility barriers than to observe people encountering them in real time. Testing your site or product with users who are blind, have low vision, or use assistive tech like screen readers or switches gives you an unfiltered view into their experience.

Practicing what we preach

When we audited our own website, we discovered that some text didn’t meet contrast standards. Instead of treating it as a setback, we used it as an opportunity to improve. Our design and dev teams collaborated and were able to quickly to update the palette and bring everything into AA compliance.