When most people think about accessibility, they picture screen readers and alt text. Maybe captions on a video. And yes, those matter, but accessibility is a much broader conversation than most businesses or organizations realize, and it extends well beyond your website. Your visual brand, your marketing materials, your communications — all of it either includes people or it doesn't.
If accessibility wasn't built into your brand and web presence from the start, there's a good chance you're excluding people without knowing it. But what exactly is accessibility and what disabilities are we being mindful of when designing? Without knowing that, it's hard to design with those requiremnets in mind. So, here's what you need to keep in mind while desiging your brand and website and why each category deserves your attention.
Visual Impairments
This is the category most people think of first, but it's wider than blindness alone. Visual disabilities include:
- Blindness — users who rely entirely on screen readers to navigate digital content
- Low vision — users who may zoom in significantly, use high-contrast mode, or rely on large print
- Color blindness — affects roughly 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women worldwide
For web design, this means paying close attention to
color contrast ratios,
providing descriptive alt text for images, and
ensuring layouts are responsive when text is scaled up significantly. For visual branding, it means your palette needs to work across every context — small print, low-res screens, high-contrast mode, and black-and-white reproduction. Never use color as the only way to communicate meaning, whether that's on a website button or an infographic in a pitch deck, for example, you wouldn't want a CTA to be "click the yellow button" when there isn't any other identifying inforation on the button options.
For written communications, clear structure and logical reading order matter whether someone is using a screen reader or just skimming a PDF. This means using headers (H1, H2, H3...) in sequential order throughout the copy.
Motor & Physical Disabilities
Not everyone navigates with a mouse, and not everyone can hold a brochure, scroll a page, or click a small button. Users with limited hand mobility, tremors, paralysis, or other physical conditions may rely on:
- Keyboard-only navigation
- Switch controls
- Eye-tracking software
- Voice input
On the web, this affects link and button focus states, tab order, click target sizes, and avoiding interactions that only trigger on hover.
In print and brand design, it shows up in choices like QR code size, form field spacing, and whether a call to action requires fine motor precision to interact with digitally.
Cognitive Disabilities
This is one of the most commonly overlooked categories and one of the broadest. Cognitive disabilities include ADHD, dyslexia, memory impairments, processing disorders, and learning disabilities. What helps these users also tends to improve the experience for everyone:
- Plain, direct language — no unnecessary jargon
- Consistent navigation and layout across web pages
- Clear, specific error messages
- Adequate white space and strong visual hierarchy
- Breaking long content into scannable sections with descriptive headings
This applies just as much to your brand communications as your website. Marketing copy that's dense, jargon-heavy, or structured inconsistently creates friction for cognitive accessibility — and frankly, it loses most readers regardless. We've all been on a website before, especially tech and B2B and been like "yes, but what do you actually DO?!" Being clear and direct is essential.
Clear hierarchy in a brochure, a logical flow in an email, a well-structured social caption, a FAQ section on your site that answers the questions your audience has — all of that is inclusive design.
Auditory Disabilities
Deaf and hard-of-hearing users are excluded the moment audio becomes the only channel for information. This applies to:
- Brand videos without captions or transcripts
- Podcasts or audio content with no text alternative
- Alerts or notifications that rely on sound alone
- In-person or virtual events without live captioning or interpreters
Captions benefit far more people than you'd expect — including users in loud environments, non-native speakers, and anyone watching with the sound off, which on social media is most people.
Neurological & Vestibular Disorders
This is the category that surprises people most. Conditions like epilepsy and vestibular disorders, which affect balance and spatial orientation, can be directly triggered by design choices:
- Flashing or strobing animations
- Auto-playing video with rapid motion
- Parallax scrolling effects
- Rapidly cycling content or slideshows
What reads as a polished, dynamic design choice can cause real physical responses like vertigo and dizziness, nausea, migraines, or in the case of photosensitive epilepsy, seizures. This applies to digital brand assets, social content, and presentations just as much as websites. WCAG guidelines specify that nothing should flash more than three times per second, and motion-heavy experiences should always offer a way to reduce or disable them.
Temporary & Situational Disabilities
This is the category most brands never consider — and arguably the one with the widest reach. Temporary and situational barriers include:
- A broken or sprained wrist making mouse use or writing difficult
- Bright sunlight washing out a screen
- A loud environment making audio impossible to hear
- Holding a child and having only one hand free
- Reading in a second language
- Low literacy or limited formal education
These everyday moments affect a huge portion of your audience at any given time. Accessible design addresses these automatically. Larger tap targets, plain language copy, strong visual contrast, and flexible layouts don't just help people with permanent disabilities. They make everything work better for everyone.
The Standard to Know: WCAG
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the internationally recognized standard for web accessibility. Currently at version 2.1, with 2.2 now finalized, WCAG organizes requirements into three levels:
- Level A — the bare minimum
- Level AA — the practical target for most websites, and the level referenced in most legal frameworks
- Level AAA — the highest level, not always achievable across an entire site
Many countries and regions have laws that reference WCAG compliance, including the ADA in the United States, the Equality Act in the UK, and the European Accessibility Act. While WCAG is web-specific, its principles —
perceivable, operable, understandable, robust — are a useful framework for evaluating any brand touchpoint.
Why It Matters Beyond Compliance
Accessibility built in from the start is cheaper, faster, and more effective than retrofitting it later. It expands your potential audience. It improves SEO. And it signals to your clients and customers that you've thought carefully about who you're designing for across every touchpoint, putting people over profit.
There's a saying that's stuck with me since I heard it at a conference years ago:
when you design for accessibility, you're really designing for your future self. Because none of us are exempt from aging, injury, illness, or circumstance. The features that help a color blind user read your brand materials today might be the same ones that help you navigate a website after eye surgery next year. Accessibility is a lens and once you start looking through it, it changes how you approach every design decision.
Ready to make your brand and website work for everyone?
