The brief was set by Foolproof, we had to make sure designers were designing accessibly by producing a resource they could refer to. My first thought was - “Why is there still an accessibility issue despite all the resources we have.”
View Workshop
UX Researcher
Apr 2024 - May 2024
Solo
Surverys, Interviews, User Story Mapping, User Flows, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Testing.
“Why is there still an accessibility problem despite all the resources we have?"
I didn’t just want to add to the pile of resources a designer could use.
I wanted to know why we still have a problem despite the amount of resources we have.
The purpose of this research was to gain insights into the designer's process, their knowledge of accessibility, and what their habits are now. I conducted primary research by asking designers and people in the industry why there is still a problem despite everything we have.
How many designers are there?
Firstly, I wanted to see how many people used Figma since this was one of the leading software that designers use. I found that there were 3 million monthly users.
How many designers use the "Most Popular" accessibility plugin?
I then checked the "Most popular" accessible plugin. It had 341,000 users, which is only 10% of the monthly users. It was evident that there was an issue with our awareness of some of the resources we have.
Survey
After conducting further research, I asked designers about the resources they used. I discovered that designers only used a select amount of resources, not all.
Expert Interview
I interviewed an industry worker named Jacob Read who works for We Are Fred. I wanted to find out the industry's thoughts on accessibility and how they address it. Jacob mentioned that they prioritize accessibility from the initial planning stages and maintain that focus throughout the entire process.
The purpose of this research was to gain insights into the designer's process, their knowledge of accessibility, and what their habits are now. I conducted primary research by asking designers and people in the industry why there is still a problem despite everything we have.
How many designers are there?
Firstly, I wanted to see how many people used Figma since this was one of theleading software that designers use.I found that there were 3 million monthly users.
How many use the "Most Popular" accessibility plugin?
Firstly, I wanted to see how many people used Figma since this was one of theleading software that designers use.I found that there were 3 million monthly users.
Survey
After conducting further research, I asked designers about the resources they used. I discovered that designers only used a select amount of resources, not all.
Expert Interview
I interviewed an industry worker named Jacob Readwhoworks for We Are Fred. I wanted tofind outthe industry's thoughts on accessibility and how they address it. Jacob mentioned that they prioritize accessibility from the initial planning stages and maintain that focus throughout the entire process.
I find this quote fits perfectly with this topic. The posters and guidelines are great, but we can’t just read. Teachers always tell students that reading is a terrible way of learning. You must do
“If you are like most people who do not read terms of service, there is nothing wrong with you, there is something wrong with tech”
Designers are not aware of all the accessibility resources we have
Accessibility is perceived as a chore
The pace of industry causes designers to skip necessary tests
Reading guidelines and posters is clearly not working.
Educate designers by challenging them to practice designing accessibly through workshops.
Workshops which allow designers to practice their design techniques
Workshops to kick start each project by focusing on considering accessibility issues their product will face in their research phase
Create awareness of all the resources which can help accessibility
Educate designers on following an accessible process
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Before each workshop, the designer must Educate themselves on the topic selected. In every educate section we cover: Definitions, Importance, Good and Bad examples, how to do it and lastly how to check.
Once the designer has educated theirselves on the topic, they can move onto cementing this knowledge by practicing it.
Before each workshop, the designer must Educate themselves on the topic selected. In every education section we cover definitions, importance, good and bad examples, how to do it and lastly how to check.
Once the designers have educated themselves on the topic, they can move on to cementing this knowledge by practicing it.
Accessible Research Workshop - Educate yourself section.
Design Techniques Workshop (Colour and Contrast) - Educate yourself section
The purpose of this workshop is to make designers consider the accessible issues their product or service may face as early as possible and allow them to ideate solutions to solve these barriers and take action.
Collection Phase - Sailboat exercise. We stick the general positives of the product above (wind blows the sailboat forward),and stick the accessibility issues the product will face below (anchor weighs the sailboat down). The goal is to consider the accessible issues.
Choose Phase - Dot voting, we move on to voting for the most important accessibility issue we need to consider now. We will remove the sticky notes which have 1 or less votes. The rest, we will leave for later.
Choose Phase - How might we, With the sticky notes have voted? Turn them into How might we questions. This leads the accessible issue to become more open and positive.
Create Phase - 10 for 10, Foreach 'How might we' question, ideate solutions which will solve this accessible issue. Then vote for each solution, (the sticky notes with 0 votes will be removed). Arrange each voted solution to the highest to lowest voted.
Commit Phase - Action Board - Now with each voted solution, place it on the Impact/effort scale, discuss with a team how much impact this solution will have on a certain accessible issue and then how much effort will it take. After that, Assign tasks and solve these accessible issues!
The purpose of this workshop is to make designers consider the accessible issues their product or service may face as early as possible and allow them to ideate solutions to solve these barriers and take action.
Collection Phase - Sailboat exercise. We stick the general positives of the product above (wind blows the sailboat forward), and stick the accessibility issues the product will face below (anchor weighs the sailboat down). The goal is to consider the accessible issues.
Choose Phase - Dot voting, we move on to voting for the most important accessibility issue we need to consider now. We will remove the sticky notes which have 1 or less votes. The rest, we will leave for later.
Choose Phase - How might we. With the sticky notes we have voted through, we now turn them into 'How might we' questions. This leads the accessible issue to become more open and positive.
Create Phase - 10 for 10. For each 'How might we' question, ideate solutions which will solve this accessible issue. Then vote for each solution, (the sticky notes with 0 votes will be removed). Arrange each voted solution to the highest to lowest voted.
Commit Phase - Action Board. Now with each voted solution, place it on the Impact/effort scale, discuss with a team how much impact this solution will have on a certain accessible issue and then how much effort will it take. After that, assign tasks and solve these accessible issues!
The purpose of this workshop is to practice designing elements accessibly on a web page. We look at many techniques such as: Headings, Page structure, Buttons and many more!
The structure of the workshops can differ depending on the topic selected!
Spot the problem - The first task is to spot the accessible issue, this allows designers to be able to identify accessible problems.
Why is this a Problem - Once a design has identified the problem, they will then explain why it is a problem to cement this knowledge.
Improve the problem - Once they have identified and explained, they will now improve the problem and make the design accessible.
Design your own - The goal here is to design your own accessible element. Using Figma's tools, from scratch, we just want the designer to design an accessible element.
Design with styles -Since designersare workingin the industry and for other companies andusingtheir design styles.We mustmake surewe are designing accessible even with other companies' styles.
Design for Mobile - Websites are resizable, we must make sure designers are considering being accessible for all screen sizes.
The purpose of this workshop is to practice designing elements accessible on a web page. We look at many techniques such as Headings, Page structure, Buttons, and many more!
The structure of the workshops can differ depending on the topic selected!
Spot the problem - The first task is to spot the accessible issue, this allows designers to be able to identify accessible problems.
Why is this a Problem - Once a design has identified the problem, they will then explain why it is a problem to cement this knowledge.
Improve the problem - Once they have identified and explained, they will now improve the problem and make the design accessible.
Design your own - The goal here is to design your own accessible element. Using Figma's tools, from scratch, we just want the designer to design an accessible element.
Design with styles -Since designers are working in the industry and for other companies and using their design styles. We must make sure we are designing accessible even with other companies' styles.
Design for Mobile - Websites are resizable, we must make sure designers are considering being accessible for all screen sizes.
At the end of each workshop, we must create awareness for designers to show them what other resources are out there. Design is an intense industry, by having access to every type of resource will ensure accessible design is done correctly.
At the end of each workshop, we must create awareness for designers to show them what other resources are out there. Design is an intense industry, by having access to every type of resource will ensure accessible design is done correctly.
Accessible Research Workshop
Design Technique Workshop Example - 1 of 14 workshops we have available
I presented this solution to a Foolproof worker Tim Caynes. He was very happy about my project and said that no one had ever used workshops as a solution. Tim agreed that the solution was a great idea and complimented my project process as well as my presentation confidence!
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