Designing for Diversity

How to create inclusive mobile experiences

Katja Forbes | @inclusiveUX1 March 2013

People using mobile devices are as diverse as the devices themselves

There are easy things you can do to make a mobile experience inclusive

2 things in 10 minutes

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There is nothing that you can do on the iPhone or iPad that I can’t do

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Mr Stevie Wonder

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Mobile, by definition, is disabling. Poor light, small keyboards, glare, touch, etc.

– Henny Swan, Senior Accessibility Specialist, BBC

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A smart phone or tablet is basically pictures under glass

– Bret Victor, Former Apple Engineer

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Ommmmm…..

…from bradfrostweb.com

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Focus on inclusion and peopleIf we try to design for all these different

operating systems then we just end up designing for mobile diversity, not for inclusion.

Design for the human capabilities, not the device

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There is no Mobile Web.

There is only The Web, which we view in different ways. There is also no Desktop Web.

Or Tablet Web.

Thank you.– Stephen Hay

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A well-executed responsive design should solve a lot of our challenges.

If a website is already inclusive via the desktop then it’s most likely to be mobile friendly as well.

Responsive design is #1

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An app or mobile site is not a book

People listen to enough to orientate themselves and then move on.

There are different modes

Text to speech doesn’t just read

Not just for visually impaired. People with dyslexia also use text to speech to read digital written content.

Lets talk about text to speech

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There are a lot of buttons in apps and sites helping to navigate around.

The language used in labelling is really important.

Don’t be bossy.

Don’t double up.

Labelling with text to speech in mind

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Inform events in multiple ways.

Don’t just have one way of achieving a task

There’s more than one way to do things

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There is a lot of video available on mobile and its one of the most consumed types of content.

People who are deaf or have hearing loss want to access all this content accessibly, which is tough on mobile devices.

Mobile video? Make sure its captioned

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Make sure the touch targets are big enough for people with dexterity challenges.

Window 8 ‘metro’ design language has something to offer here with its ‘big tile’ user interface.

Choose smart defaults

Use alternate methods to input information & exploit device capabilities

Supporting dexterity challenges

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If you have a smart phone, you have a screen reader. Test your designs. There is no excuse.

Test with real people who have real impairments

Iterate and test again!

Learn from your mistakes and make your next try better.

Test, test, test

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The mobile landscape is extremely diverse and complex to navigate

We have to stay focussed on inclusion, not mobile diversity

Our guiding design principles must be technology agnostic

Let’s use what we already have and adapt as we learn more

So, to sum up…

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Thank youkatja@inclusiveux.com.au

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