What do you feel is the role of accessibility in UX Design?

Preksha – UX being the user centered field it is, it definitely makes a huge change in the possibilities of solutions. Research can only reveal so much about the target group of a product. But when you have a community of designers from numerous fields to discuss the problem statements, new perspectives are discovered.

Poorva – Accessibility in UX can be in terms of assisting people with disabilities in using certain products/services. As a UX designer, it’s important to consider a broader demographic but keep in mind that niche audience while designing. Essentially, fit in all potential users in different contexts of use.

How do you feel about the current state of UX and UI in apps and webpages?

Preksha – These solutions are designed for the greater masses- a lot of who may not be from the same background. Just the way it needs to cater to users of such varied backgrounds only makes it more challenging and interesting a problem to solve. Some of the elements that spoil my experience of them would be- i) the flashy buttons, ii) the animated labels and just how information is all over the place and not structured in a way that is similar to how I may skim through the screen at first go iii) poor loading pages and their speed, iv) use of pixelated images in a lot of places v) the steps involved in completing tasks in certain scenarios vi) sometimes, if i enter information in some forms (multiple pages) on these sites and go back to the previous page, I end up losing information (which I dont with services like Google Forms). That makes me spend more time on the site for the same task.

Poorva – I dont feel that any of these sites were designed to also cater to people with mental disabilities or sensitivity to flashy or hyper animated web elements. Functionality wise, they’re solving it. But when a product looks better, you trust it more. It’s a psychological thing. Too much information is an added issue.

How do vou think we can make the UX better for such groups?

Preksha – A good start could be to categorize these groups well and begin researching how these various user groups approach the web services (what devices they use, what environment and distractions they have to handle while using these services, etc) and analyse their behavior patterns. Ofcourse the solution for each group may be wildly different from each other, but the key here should be to keep things as simple as possible.

Poorva – These groups need be: 1. Categorized, relevant and contextual information only, Need to know why they should be using the product altogether (come from a mindset of unawareness/not willing to deviate from the usual sources), 2. Assistance in steps (online assistant/ a live chat or conversation feature will help)

My first question is what do you feel is the role of accessibility in UX design? in terms for inclusivity for different age groups? Are they easily usable by all?

I think in in this question it would help to understand what you’re considering as accessibility or what factors of accessibility. Accessibility means easier to be used by all groups, the question we need to ask is can a product or service be used by everybody? It often has a target user audience where we know that we can’t necessarily make something absolute for every person on earth to to be able to use because we all have different abilities, lived, experiences, ways of knowing and making sense of the world around us. Are we talking about accessibility or the role of universal design and user experience? So that may be something to consider as you kind of pursue this, setting a standard for a minimum threshold of usability and feasibility to within a digital or physical product, object service environment, etc.

The term user experience design was only coined in 1993 by Don Norman from Apple, about 30 years of user experience design and what that means, it was cultivated in tech. So looking at the principles of what what creates a user experience, what are the factors or the elements, and how do we go about designing that so inherently. We want to start from a place of inquiry, so it’s an inquiry led approach where as designers are researchers, we need to move beyond our individual opinions, assumptions, personal experiences and follow a human centred design practise that allows the people for whom we seek to serve through our design allow them to to guide us and help us uncover insights.

I think as a discipline for being a relatively young discipline, again getting its foundation in the early 90s has come a long way in terms of building out a truly interdisciplinary space that you know is grounded in industrial design at its core. We know that starting from from Apple and and Don Norman. So having that industrial design sort of foundation.

Do they facilitate groups such as senior citizens, illiterate and those who are new to this tech? What do you feel about the 55+ age range?

What a senior citizen’s experience may be with an app or web page. It it depends on a variety of design decisions and factors. Who was it made for? Was it made for people who are novice and don’t have previous experience or is it made for people who already understand these systems and interfaces? Or does it cater to a range of users?

You know the demographic of 55 as a senior, it’s kind of had a really interesting point. When we look at when the advent of the Internet came about and some of these technologies where at 55, I don’t know if it’s a foreign a practise as it might have been even 10 years ago. There are so many components in our everyday life that required the use of mobile. Apps, phones and and technologies, for example, travel for London TfL underground. It’s kind of changed the the demographic in terms of seeing your citizens even pre pandemic. What they’re comfort and ability might have been an understanding intuitively how to use these apps or you know having the creative confidence to make mistakes, figure it out and know that in a lot of apps you can kind of start over or go back or try something. Again many apps.

How do you feel about Facebook’s interface? As that is an app frequented by this age range. How can we make User Experience better for this group?

In Facebook I the distinction being Facebook for mobile app users versus Facebook Web page users. I think that’s an important distinction because they are somewhat different. And so Facebook being a mobile platform, an accessible via app. The questions one might ask: But I think if you can really focus your attention, you know, are there, you know, how are these senior citizens in India using it? Are they using it to stay connected with their friends? Are they? are these folks who are still actively in the workplace? Are these, you know, senior citizens who are? Maybe we’re tired? Are they active but retired, or are they active and somewhat isolated? Are they using this as a primary source of socialising? Is it where they get their news and information? Where you can focus in terms of understanding, accessibility, inclusivity.

You know target audience in a situational context for specific purpose and really let them tell you what they need. I can, you know, point to the guidance of frameworks and things that based on the insights that you’ll get. To see this focused on a specific need. For example, one case study that we look at in the BA user experience design programme here is on, you know, the NHS, the UK NHS site, how it’s it follows web accessibility guidelines, it has clear navigation tools.