In celebration of the 14th annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), we’re contributing to the worldwide conversation around digital inclusion. Hippo now has over 500 experts in human-centred digital services, with decades of experience across design, data, engineering and delivery. We’re passionate about ensuring that everyone can use the products and services we design and build.

User-centred design is so important to Hippo that we made ‘human’ one of our values, inclusion is part of our Social Value Strategy, and we’ve set up a Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Forum who hold us accountable for making progress. One of our core objectives is to better understand diverse groups within society that can’t always be reflected within Hippo as an organisation. For example we obviously can’t hire children, but we need an awareness of their specific needs to design and build digital products for them.

I’m fascinated by the life-changing opportunities created by technology. I’ve worked in digital for a decade and I’m now a Lead UX Consultant at Hippo, delivering for clients and establishing projects focused on accessible and inclusive design. This includes initiatives like supporting every one of our designers to become certified in web accessibility with the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative and UNESCO. But training is one thing and learning from people with lived experience is another — and we’ll get to that.

What is accessible and inclusive design?

Accessibility and inclusion are slightly different. Accessible design focuses on removing barriers for people with disabilities. Inclusive design gives consideration to diverse needs, backgrounds, and perspectives. Essentially both disciplines make sure that everyone can use your products and services.

An example of accessible design might be making sure your colour contrast is high enough for people with colour vision deficiency, or ensuring that your website works with assistive technologies.

Inclusive design could be to include people from a range of backgrounds in your app’s imagery, or allowing people to skip questions about gender when completing forms.

Why is accessibility important?

Firstly, it’s the right thing to do. Anyone should be able to use your products and services, even if they do have a disability or they’re neurodivergent or English isn’t their first language. Or all three.

Besides the ethical reasons, the more people who can use your products the more potential customers or service users you have. Accessibility makes good business sense.

For example: Did you know that in the UK alone around 10 million people are affected by osteoarthritis (source: NICE)? So if your text is too small, more than 1 in 7 people might struggle to use links to navigate. Besides the fact that your content may be unreadable by the 2 million UK residents who have a visual impairment.

Failing to meet accessibility standards can also cause legal, financial, and reputational damage. Public sector services are actually required to adhere to the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (“unless doing so would impose a disproportionate burden”). Those that don’t are in breach of the Equality Act 2010.

There are also plenty of stories of private companies being taken to court for discriminating against disabled people who can’t use their products. This costs money, takes up time, and results in bad publicity — like this well-known example from the USA. 

Even when things are put right, it can take a long time to repair trust. Aim to follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, as a minimum. The European Accessibility Act comes into effect on 28 June 2025, so make sure you’re ready for how that may impact you (even if you’re not in the EU).

There are a lot of regulations to ensure that people with access needs have those needs met. Use the regulations to guide and support you — don’t see them as a checkbox exercise that you’ve ‘done’ once you’ve met the criteria. Test with real users to make sure. You will always have missed something and that’s okay. That is why we test and learn.

Practices and processes to help embed accessible design

Do a discovery phase

Inclusive design should be considered from the start. If you follow Agile methodologies, the discovery phase is when you’ll learn about your users, what they’re trying to achieve, and the problems you can solve for them.

Use research to understand problems

User research is vital for true understanding. There are lots of ways to do this, some quick and cheap, others more time-consuming and expensive — but often more valuable. Either way, resources and time for user research should be planned into your roadmap.

Utilise design systems

Co-design can help you to design inclusively without even thinking about it. If you’ve established a design system and reuse things like buttons, this consistency makes it easier for people to use. And these components should already have been tested, saving you time and money.

Support each other

Create a culture of feedback, expertise, and accountability. Regularly sharing work with a range of stakeholders means their unique perspectives can help you to spot things you might otherwise miss.

The tech industry is becoming more inclusive. But in the UK only 26% of tech roles are held by women (at Hippo, 39% of our employees are women). It’s important that people from all backgrounds feel able to contribute. That creates the best possible experiences both within the workplace and for the people you’re creating products for, who’ll be better understood and represented.

Here’s an example: When I was new to design, I shared a wireframe with a colleague who pointed out that everyone in the hero image was white. I hadn’t even noticed at the time, but that lesson is something I’ve never forgotten.

Test with real people

It’s also important to test with users early and often. This should include people with access needs, such as those who use screen readers. If your product or service is used by a particular marginalised group, test it with them. For example if a large proportion of your users are elderly, get your prototype in front of them so that you don’t miss anything specific to their needs.

Context is important too. The travel planning app Citymapper famously took a prototype to the pub, to test with real people in a place where they’d use it. They discovered that drunk people need comically big buttons. It’s unlikely they’d have learned this if they’d done their usability testing in a lab and this insight is vital for getting people home safely.

Let tools help you

Tools can help you test some things, like colour contrast, and the WAVE browser extension can help you identify and prioritise a range of problems. Turn on your phone’s built-in screen reader and try using your product (you’ll potentially find this horrifying!). It’s important to note that none of these things can replace testing with people with lived experience.

Don’t forget internal products

Can all of your team access the tools you use? Does everyone feel included in your service? Even simple things like writing in plain English, making your email font big enough, and adding alt text to images in presentations can make a big difference.

What next?

This might sound like a lot of work. But it’s valuable and important work.

Try not to let terminology and jargon put you off. If a lot of the above is new to you, read up on it further. It’s interesting, I promise!

If I can summarise this post into three top tips, they’d be:

  • Make time to understand your users. Conducting research and testing with real people, with real lived experience, in real places, is invaluable
  • Use tools, such as colour contrast checkers and in-built screen readers, to help give you a head start (this can also help if you’re on a tight budget or deadline)
  • Collaborate with a range of people and stakeholders so that you’re considering perspectives from different backgrounds all the way through

 

As long as you’re speaking to real people, users and stakeholders, and allowing for continuous improvement, you’re doing well.

Ultimately: design with people, not for them.