Make your communications accessible
Make your communications accessible
Accessible communications are vital for inclusivity and ensuring that all audience members can receive and understand your message. They ensure that people with disabilities, such as visual, auditory, or neurodevelopmental conditions, can access and understand your content.
- Create an inclusive environment where everyone has equal access to information.
- Make your content accessible to widen your audience.
- Demonstrate a commitment to accessibility to enhance your brand’s reputation.
Here are some guidelines to keep in mind when creating your content.
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Clear language
- Use plain language and avoid jargon to make your content easy to understand.
- Break down complex information into smaller, easily digestible sections.
- Provide summaries for longer pieces to help users grasp key points quickly.
Visual content accessibility
- Include alt text for all images, describing the essential details. More details here.
- Use descriptive titles and captions for graphs and charts.
- Ensure videos have captions and transcripts available.
Colour contrast
- Make sure that the contrast ratio between the text colour and the background colour is at least 4.5:1. There are colour-contrast tools that can help you test colour pairs for contrast and adjust the values as necessary:
- Here are two examples:
White: #FFFFFF Green: #0098C4 Contrast ratio: 3.75:1
White: #FFFFFF Green: #005740 Contrast ratio: 8.61:1
- Avoid very high contrast. A very high-contrast colour scheme can make reading more difficult for some people, especially people with dyslexia.
Formatting:
- Use a minimum font size 12 (bigger for presentations).
- Use non-serif fonts (such as Arial or Helvetica).
- Avoid using underlines for text formatting; reserve underlining to highlight links.
- Avoid using all caps and italics. All caps reduce readability because all words have a uniform rectangular shape, meaning readers can't identify words by their shape.
- Left align text, without justification. This makes it easier to find the start and finish of each line and ensures even spacing between words.
Social media:
- Social media hashtags should be in #CamelCase #MoreReadable #lessreadable.
- Include alt text for all images, describing the essential details.
Space
- Space is a fundamental visual design element, helping to group related content and differentiate unrelated content.
- Ensure appropriate spacing between text lines. Interline spacing (line height) is typically automatically set for most content tasks.
Regulatory compliance
Many countries have legal requirements for accessibility. Ensure your communications are accessible to help you stay compliant with these regulations.