Why–and How — Square360 Focuses on Accessibility
It’s easy to do anything in life without thinking about other people, which is exactly why an exorbitant amount of websites have errors that make them inaccessible. On Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), we want to shed light on not just how important this day is but why we think about it more than just this one day.
“More than 90% of sites are mostly inaccessible and it’s really pathetic,” says Square360’s Chief Creative Officer Brian P. Milea. “We want there to be a healthier awareness of our humanity.”
The standards we work to are called WCAG, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, the first iteration of which was published in 1999. Obviously, the guidelines have iterated as both the web and public awareness of accessibility have evolved. One thing that hasn’t changed? Our dedication to them.
As a digital-first, design-focused agency, we have to balance the dynamic between design, brand presentation, and accessibility. What might look good might not be good for everyone. And if our design only reaches a subset of people, we’re not doing our jobs. It’s also something we regularly hear about from our clients, particularly many who fear lawsuits.
More than 1,600 lawsuits claiming digital violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act or the CA Unruh Civil Rights Act were filed in the first half of 2021, according to a report by tech firm UsableNet Inc. A landmark settlement between Harvard University and the National Association for the Deaf highlighted something we pay close attention to with our higher education clients, whose sites we regularly redesign and strategize on within the WCAG guidelines.
“We work with so many clients who bring this up, and when Harvard was sued because some of their course content that was only available online wasn’t accessible to all students, all universities started paying more attention to this,” says our CEO Nancy Smullen.
Part of this requires properly structured HTML, informed content strategy, atl text tagging, and obvious color scheme, font size, and design decisions. Addressing the guidelines when you start working with us is foundational to who we are as a company and will ultimately lead to better business and a reduced risk of remediations.
“We tell our clients that this isn’t just part of our work because it’s required,” Nancy says. “It’s part of being good internet citizens and creators of web pages and systems.”
For more information on Global Accessibility Awareness Day, check out the GAAD Foundation’s list of events, free boot camps, and webinars. For more on Square360 and what we do, check out our site and reach out — we’re always looking for clients who want to team up.
