Accessible Design vs. Poor Design
Just because design is accessible to all doesn’t necessarily mean that it is good design. If the content isn’t presented and interacted with in a way that connects with us, a design can miss the mark.
Engaging multiple senses and encouraging a user to interact in more than one way with your content increases the likelihood that they will remember the information. Different parts of our brains process different types of stimuli, so hearing something, reading something, seeing something etc. stimulates distinct processes and when we can combine several modalities, our chance of retaining information increases, as well as our ability to be creative in problem-solving. The more we can interact or engage with the content, the better our chances of being able to remember and apply it.
Embracing universal design also doesn’t mean that a design can’t reach the same heights of beauty and functionality. In fact, being thoughtful about including everyone in your design at the very beginning stages can save a lot of work down the road and can potentially make your product more “future-proof.”