Ever heard of the curb cut effect?
It’s where accessibility features designed for people with disabilities end up helping everyone else, too.
It’s named after curb cuts – or dropped curbs if you’re speaking British English. They were initially intended for wheelchair users but now help people pushing buggies, carrying luggage and more.
The same is true of advertising. Inclusive ads benefit everyone. And they pay. 1 in 5 Brits has a disability, and their households spend over £274 billion a year. It’s a mistake to ignore them.
So, what can you do to make your content and ads accessible to all?
How to design for digital inclusivity
There are a number of simple steps to take to make sure everything online can be seen and consumed by everyone online.
- Alt text gives a description of images for people who can’t see them. They also help with SEO, as search engines can’t ‘see images’, but they can read alt text. This boosts your content’s discoverability Read some tips on writing good alt text by RNIB here.
- Simple, clean fonts like Arial or Helvetica in size 14+ help improve legibility for the visually impaired, reduce reading errors for those with dyslexia, cut distractions for people with ADHD and makes things more readable for those with literacy issues.
- Ensuring proper colour contrast helps your work stand out and be more memorable for everyone. But for those with a number of visual impairments, it’s the difference between being able to read it and not. Use tools like Coolors to make sure your colours have enough contrast.
- Inbuilt tools on Microsoft Office allow you to check your documents for accessibility across multiple metrics – find it in the ‘Review’ tab.
- Captions for videos and transcripts for audio support those with hearing impairments – and help others who just want to watch without sound.
- Simple, logical, consistent navigation on websites makes things easier for everyone to find. But it especially helps users with visual impairments that rely on screen readers, people with motor disabilities that use keyboard navigation and those with cognitive disabilities who benefit from predictable, structured layouts. It also helps older people who may experience age-related changes in vision, dexterity, or memory.
- Collaborate and consult with the disabled community. Organisations like Scope support businesses with disability inclusion.
What does getting it right look like?
Creativity thrives on challenge. Mastercard’s widely awarded Touch Card campaign is a fantastic example of accessibility driving widespread impact.
The promoted a new product feature – notches on their cards to help visually impaired people identify them.
Ads featured a legally blind actor and included audio descriptions and captions. It’s an excellent example of incidental inclusion. Showcasing product innovation and telling a story that doesn’t just focus on disability.
So all in all for accessibility really helps us all. Want to learn more about how to make your brand truly connect with people like never before? Get in touch at hello@mediabounty.com.
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