Accessibility in Product Design 2023
People argue that good design is difficult to notice because we use it every day. Recently, there has been a lot of discussion on why design should be accessible to users online. As someone who specialized in design as a major, I can assure you that good design, not just online, is seamless and easy to utilize.
Design in general
From an early stage in my design career, I was taught that good design is noticeable and told it was obvious. Well! I was taught wrong, over the past years I have worked with design teams in the building, and product sector. One thing I can tell you is that good design isn’t obvious, aesthetic design is.
There are three qualities that come to mind when designing, Functionality, Aesthetics, and lastly Accessibility. Taking a plate of coffee is a good illustration of design functionality, you see what I did there. We drink coffee from cups because it’s more convenient, it’s easier to drink from a cup, and sipping hot coffee from a plate just doesn’t feel right. When you want a cup that is plain black or has wording that says “I’m the best,” aesthetics come into play. My point is that we don’t notice beautiful design since it is there in our daily lives.
Designing for Buildings
As an architect major, when designing, I majorly used to focus on Functionality and aesthetics, meaning that my designs had to perform the purpose for which it was built, and had to be visually pleasing to the clients. Bear in mind, accessibility was a topic I struggled with because I had the mindset that I limited my scope in aesthetics. You can say that I was only seeing design as a UI designer and not from a UX designer’s perspective.
Designing for Products
After a year of working closely with developers, engineers and product designers. I have come to realize that inclusivity plays an important role in design. Moreover, when designing, the one thing every designer should keep in mind is your users.
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