Design for Everyone: Why Inclusive and Accessible Design Benefits Your Bottom Line
Randall Carter
Design for Everyone: Why Inclusive and Accessible Design Benefits Your Bottom Line
What Are Inclusive and Accessible Design?
Moving Beyond the 'Average' User
The Spectrum of Ability
The Business Case for Accessibility
The Untapped Market
Boosting Your Brand Reputation
Improving SEO and Performance
Practical Steps: Accessibility in the Figma Workflow
Checking Color Contrast
Designing for Keyboard Navigation
Annotating for Screen Readers
How to Hire for an Inclusive Mindset
Key Interview Questions
What to Look for in a Portfolio
Conclusion: Accessibility as an Innovation Driver
References
Design for Everyone: Why Inclusive and Accessible Design Benefits Your Bottom Line
Too often, digital accessibility is treated as a niche requirement or a legal checkbox. But in 2025, smart businesses understand that inclusive design is a powerful driver of innovation and profitability. Designing for everyone isn't just the right thing to do—it's good for your bottom line.
By making your product usable for people with disabilities, you create a better experience for all users. This approach is essential when implementing modern UI trends and aligns perfectly with the growing demand for ethical practices like Green UX. To truly succeed, you need to hire Figma designers who see accessibility as a core competency.
What Are Inclusive and Accessible Design?
Let's start with the basics. Accessibility (often shortened to a11y) means making a product usable for people with disabilities. It's about ensuring everyone can interact with your digital products, regardless of their abilities.
Inclusivity takes this concept even further. It means designing for a diverse range of people, regardless of ability, age, language, or background. While accessibility focuses on removing barriers for people with disabilities, inclusivity considers the full spectrum of human diversity.
Think of it this way: accessibility ensures the door is wide enough for a wheelchair. Inclusivity makes sure everyone feels welcome once they're inside.
Moving Beyond the 'Average' User
Here's a truth that might surprise you: the "average" user doesn't exist. When we design for this mythical person, we're actually excluding huge segments of the population.
Consider the curb-cut effect. Those ramps at street corners were originally designed for wheelchair users. But who else benefits? Parents pushing strollers. Delivery workers with hand trucks. Travelers pulling luggage. Even cyclists and skateboarders.
This perfectly illustrates how designing for specific needs creates solutions that benefit everyone. When you solve for edge cases, you often improve the experience for all users. A video with captions helps deaf users, but it also helps someone watching in a noisy coffee shop or a parent trying not to wake a sleeping baby.
The same principle applies to digital design. High contrast text helps users with low vision, but it also makes content easier to read in bright sunlight. Clear navigation helps users with cognitive disabilities, but it also helps anyone who's distracted or in a hurry.
The Spectrum of Ability
Disability isn't a yes-or-no question. It exists on a spectrum, and we all move along that spectrum throughout our lives.
Permanent disabilities are what most people think of first. Someone who is blind, deaf, or uses a wheelchair faces these challenges every day. These users need consistent, reliable accessibility features.
Temporary disabilities affect us for shorter periods. Break your dominant arm, and suddenly you're navigating with one hand. Get eye surgery, and you might struggle with bright screens for weeks. These situations give many people their first real taste of accessibility challenges.
Situational disabilities happen based on context. Try using your phone one-handed while holding groceries. Or reading your screen in direct sunlight. Or listening to a video in a noisy environment. In these moments, we all benefit from accessible design.
Understanding this spectrum changes how we approach design. We're not designing for "them" – we're designing for all of us, in all the situations life throws our way.
The Business Case for Accessibility
Let's talk numbers. If doing the right thing isn't motivation enough, the business case for accessibility should convince even the most skeptical stakeholder.
The Untapped Market
The disability community represents a massive market opportunity that many businesses overlook. According to the CDC, 26% of adults in the United States have some type of disability. That's one in four people.
Globally, the numbers are even more striking. The World Health Organization estimates that over one billion people live with some form of disability. Their friends and families often make purchasing decisions based on accessibility too, multiplying the market impact.
This community has serious spending power. In the US alone, people with disabilities represent a market worth over $490 billion in disposable income. When you include their friends and family, that number jumps to $13 trillion.
Yet many businesses still treat accessibility as an afterthought. They're literally turning away customers at the digital door. In an increasingly competitive market, can you afford to ignore 26% of your potential customer base?
Boosting Your Brand Reputation
Accessibility isn't just about avoiding negative press – it's about building a positive brand image. Companies known for inclusive practices attract loyal customers who value social responsibility.
Look at Microsoft's adaptive controller for Xbox. It wasn't their biggest seller, but it generated enormous goodwill. The product showed Microsoft's commitment to ensuring everyone can play, earning praise from gamers, accessibility advocates, and mainstream media alike.
This commitment extends beyond customers. Top talent increasingly wants to work for companies that share their values. When you prioritize accessibility, you signal that your company cares about all people. This helps attract diverse, thoughtful employees who bring fresh perspectives to your team.
Your existing employees benefit too. An accessible workplace supports team members who might develop disabilities. It also helps parents returning from leave, older workers, and anyone dealing with temporary health challenges. This investment in accessibility shows employees you value their long-term wellbeing.
Improving SEO and Performance
Here's something that might surprise you: accessible websites often rank better in search results. Why? Because many accessibility best practices align perfectly with SEO requirements.
Search engines are essentially users with disabilities. They can't see images, so they rely on alt text. They can't watch videos, so they need transcripts. They navigate through heading structures, just like screen reader users.
When you write descriptive alt text for images, you're helping both screen reader users and search engines understand your content. When you use proper heading hierarchies, you're making navigation easier for everyone – including Google's crawlers.
Accessible design also tends to create cleaner, more efficient code. Semantic HTML isn't just easier for screen readers to parse – it's also lighter and faster to load. This improved performance benefits all users, especially those on slower connections or older devices.
The speed improvements can be significant. Accessible sites often have better Core Web Vitals scores, which Google now uses as a ranking factor. By prioritizing accessibility, you're actually investing in better search rankings and user experience metrics.
Practical Steps: Accessibility in the Figma Workflow
Now let's get practical. How do you actually build accessibility into your design process? If you're using Figma, you've got powerful tools at your fingertips.
The key is starting early. Accessibility isn't something you bolt on at the end – it needs to be part of your process from day one. Here's how to make that happen.
Checking Color Contrast
Color contrast might seem like a small detail, but it's one of the most common accessibility failures. Low contrast text is hard for everyone to read, especially users with low vision or color blindness.
Figma has built-in contrast checking, but plugins take this further. Stark is a popular choice that checks your entire design against WCAG standards. It flags problem areas and suggests fixes, making compliance straightforward.
But don't just aim for the minimum. WCAG AA requires a 4.5:1 contrast ratio for normal text, but why not shoot for 7:1? Your designs will be more readable for everyone, especially on lower-quality screens or in challenging lighting.
Remember to check contrast in different states too. What about hover states? Focus indicators? Error messages? Each of these needs sufficient contrast to be useful.
Pro tip: Create a color system with pre-approved accessible combinations. This saves time and ensures consistency across your designs. Your team can grab colors confidently, knowing they meet accessibility standards.
Designing for Keyboard Navigation
Not everyone uses a mouse. Some people navigate entirely with keyboards, either by choice or necessity. Your designs need to support them.
The most critical element is the focus indicator. When someone tabs through your interface, they need to see clearly where they are. That thin default browser outline often isn't enough.
Design custom focus states that are obvious and on-brand. Use a thick border, a background color change, or even a subtle animation. Just make sure it's visible against all backgrounds.
Think about tab order too. Users expect to move through your interface in a logical sequence. Generally, this means left to right, top to bottom. But interactive elements should follow the order that makes sense for the task.
Skip links are another keyboard essential. These hidden links let users jump past repetitive navigation straight to main content. They're invisible to mouse users but invaluable for keyboard navigation.
Test your designs by tabbing through them yourself. Can you reach everything? Is the order logical? Are focus states clear? This simple test reveals issues quickly.
Annotating for Screen Readers
Screen readers convert visual interfaces into audio or braille. But they need help understanding what's important and how elements relate.
Start with heading structure. Screen reader users often navigate by headings, jumping between them to find relevant content. Use a clear hierarchy: one H1, followed by H2s for major sections, H3s for subsections.
Images need context too. Decorative images should be marked as such, so screen readers skip them. Informative images need descriptive alt text that conveys their meaning, not just their appearance.
Don't write "Image of a chart." Instead, summarize what the chart shows: "Bar chart showing 40% increase in user satisfaction after accessibility improvements."
Form fields need clear labels. Placeholder text isn't enough – it disappears when users start typing. Every field needs a persistent label that screen readers can announce.
Error messages require special attention. They should clearly explain what went wrong and how to fix it. Connect them to the relevant fields so screen readers announce them in context.
Create an annotation layer in your Figma files specifically for accessibility notes. This helps developers understand your intentions and implement them correctly.
How to Hire for an Inclusive Mindset
Building accessible products requires a team that truly understands and values inclusivity. But how do you find designers who get it? Here's what to look for.
Key Interview Questions
Skip the theoretical questions. Instead, ask about real experience and practical problem-solving.
"Tell me about a time you advocated for an accessibility feature." This reveals whether they've actually pushed for inclusive design, even when it wasn't required. Look for specific examples, not vague statements about believing in accessibility.
"How do you test your designs for accessibility?" Good designers have a toolkit ready. They might mention screen reader testing, keyboard navigation, color contrast tools, or user testing with people with disabilities. Be wary of anyone who says they "just follow best practices" without specifics.
"Describe a design challenge where accessibility constraints led to a better solution." This question uncovers whether they see accessibility as a creative catalyst or a burden. The best designers have stories about how designing for constraints sparked innovation.
"What accessibility resources do you follow?" Passionate designers stay current. They might mention specific blogs, conferences, or communities. This shows ongoing commitment, not just checkbox compliance.
"How would you handle a stakeholder who wants to deprioritize accessibility?" This tests their communication skills and conviction. Can they articulate the business case? Will they stand firm on non-negotiables while finding creative compromises?
What to Look for in a Portfolio
Portfolios reveal priorities. Here's what catches my eye when reviewing design work.
First, look for explicit mentions of accessibility. Do case studies discuss how they considered users with disabilities? Even better, do they show how accessibility decisions improved the overall design?
Check for diverse user research. Did they test with people with disabilities? Did they consider edge cases? Personas that include users with various abilities show thoughtful, inclusive thinking.
Examine the actual designs. Can you spot accessibility considerations? High contrast text, clear focus states, and logical information hierarchy suggest accessibility awareness. If they're showing live sites or prototypes, test them yourself with keyboard navigation.
Look for accessibility in their own portfolio site. If they don't practice what they preach in their own work, that's a red flag. Their portfolio should be a showcase of accessible design principles.
Pay attention to how they talk about constraints. Designers who embrace accessibility often speak positively about working within guidelines. They see constraints as creative challenges, not limitations.
Finally, notice whether accessibility feels integrated or tacked on. In strong portfolios, inclusive design is woven throughout the process, not mentioned as an afterthought in a final "Accessibility Considerations" section.
Conclusion: Accessibility as an Innovation Driver
Here's the mindset shift that changes everything: accessibility isn't a constraint. It's a catalyst for better design.
When you solve for the hardest use cases first, you create more robust solutions. When you design for one-handed use, you make interfaces that work for everyone carrying coffee. When you ensure content works without color, you create clearer information hierarchies.
The curb-cut effect shows up everywhere in digital design. Captions help in noisy environments. Voice interfaces assist when hands are full. Dark mode serves light-sensitive users and night owls alike. These features start as accessibility solutions but become beloved by all users.
Innovation happens at the edges. By focusing on users with the most challenging needs, we push our creativity further. We question assumptions. We find simpler, clearer solutions. We build products that work in more situations for more people.
The business case is clear. The moral case is obvious. But the creative case might be most compelling of all. Accessible design makes us better designers. It forces us to think deeper, test broader, and build stronger.
So start today. Run a contrast check on your current project. Tab through your latest design. Talk to users with disabilities. Each small step moves us toward a more inclusive digital world.
The future belongs to products that work for everyone. By embracing accessibility now, you're not just doing the right thing. You're positioning your business for sustainable success in an increasingly diverse, digital world.
References
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Posted Jul 6, 2025
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