When you are asked to create an accessible product, tell them to create an accessible experience.
An accessible product alone might meet the minimum standards for the product, but an accessible experience ensures inclusivity at every touchpoint. Accessible products are important, but accessible experiences go beyond mere functionality to create environments where everyone feels valued and included.
An accessible experience addresses not just the product itself, but the entire interaction journey. It considers user needs at every stage, ensuring that accessibility isn’t just a feature but an integral part of how users engage with the product.
Accessible experiences consider the diverse ways users interact with your product, ensuring that each step, from initial contact to daily use, maintenance, and, yes, deprecation, is intuitive and accommodating. This holistic approach goes beyond compliance to foster genuine usability and satisfaction.
Focusing on the experience is a proactive approach that means anticipating and addressing barriers users might face and smashing them before a user ever runs into them. It’s about understanding the context in which the product is used and making sure that accessibility is woven into every aspect of that experience, rather than being an afterthought.
Accessible experiences ensure that every user, regardless of their abilities, can engage with and benefit from your product through its entire interaction cycle in a meaningful way. Accessible experiences are not about checking compliance boxes, but about creating environments where all users can thrive as independently as possible.
When you are asked to create an accessible product, the right answer is always to create an accessible experience. This is the key to ensuring that your product is truly inclusive and valuable to all users.
Want to show that you are an ally/a11y? Lobby for the accessible experience.Alt: Two buttons design with different write up. Button one: Accessible Product Button two: Accessible Experience
and a man with white handkerchief below cleaning his sweaty face with a written caption: always push the accessible experience button.