Design for all

The idea of ‘design for all’ has its roots in human-computer interaction studies. This body of knowledge offers practical methods to improve people’s experience of digital content.

The Style Manual promotes some of these methods, in line with the Digital Service Standard, such as:

• understanding needs through user research
• embedding accessibility as a foundation
• using consistent and responsive design.

The goal is inclusive design that meets a diverse range of needs. Inclusive design considers user experience in a range of situations – for example, on different devices and for time-poor users.

Do user research

Find out more about user research for content. This aspect of inclusive design is core to Style Manual guidance.

As part of your user research, test content to gain:

• input from the users you’re designing for
• views and feedback from a diverse and representative users.

You can make content accessible for one user, but it will benefit others in different situations.

For example, user research can help you understand:

• a person who uses their mobile and needs simple menu options
• a time-poor executive who needs content that’s easy to scan
• a person who needs to fill in a form, but English is not their first language.

Accessibility is a common thread in each of these situations.

Combine your user research with accessibility techniques to design usable content. 

Ask what makes content usable

Usability and accessibility are closely linked. People will use content that accommodates their needs (usable content). They turn away from content that is alienating or frustrating to use.

Accessible content is a foundation to address broader user needs. For example, page structure feeds into assistive technology. But good page structure also improves readability.

You can think of accessibility as a necessary step to create usable content.

Consider a user who cannot perceive images and the content provides no description, such as alt text. In this situation, visual content is not usable because it is not accessible.

Create content for people with diverse abilities

People can experience difficulties with access because of ongoing, temporary and situational barriers. Government content needs to be designed so it does not create barriers to access.

Poor design causes people to experience ongoing, temporary or situational difficulties. This can limit the extent and duration of access to online content in many ways. 

Accessibility is how you can avoid setting up barriers for people with diverse abilities.

When you design content, it needs to serve people with:

• age-related conditions
• changing abilities
• disability
• health issues
• cognitive, neurological and learning disabilities.

Usable content accommodates this range of human experience.