Digital Accessibility Tips Every Web Designer Should Know
If you’re a web designer, accessibility isn’t something that happens after the site is built. It happens when you:
Pick a color palette
Choose a font size
Decide whether something looks like a button or a link
Remove certain elements because it “ruins the aesthetic”
And here’s the uncomfortable truth: most accessibility failures are design decisions, not developer mistakes. Especially if you are using a website builder.
An analysis of one million home pages revealed approximately 50 accessibility errors per page, and research found that 98% of top-ranking websites failed basic accessibility testing. But here's the good news—most of these issues start in the design phase, which means you have the power to prevent them.
Contrary to popular belief, accessibility does not mean limiting creativity and design. In fact, accessible designs generally lead to cleaner layouts, better usability, and happier customers.
With accessibility lawsuits continuing to grow and the European Accessibility Act in full effect (which is driving more action to be taken in the U.S.), designing with inclusion isn't just ethical—it's essential.
Below are practical, real-world website accessibility tips to help web designers create inclusive websites from the very beginning—without turning accessibility into an overwhelming chore.
In This Article
What Digital Accessibility Really Means (and Why Designers Set the Tone)
Color Contrast Is a Design Choice (Not a Dev Problem)
Don’t Use Sensory Characteristics as the Only Way to Communicate
Stop Designing with Images of Text
Focus States Are Not Optional (Even If They’re “Ugly”)
Clean, Predictable Layouts Are an Obvious Must
Design Interactive Elements Like Real Humans Will Use Them
What Digital Accessibility Really Means (and Why Designers Set the Tone)
Digital accessibility means people can use what you design.
Not just look at it.
That includes people who are blind or low vision, Deaf or hard of hearing, have mobility or cognitive disabilities, experience motion sensitivity, or rely on keyboards, screen readers, voice control, and other assistive technology.
You’ve probably heard of WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). It can feel intimidating and developer‑heavy. But here’s what doesn’t get said enough:
Accessibility success or failure is often decided before a single line of code exists.
If you’re designing in Squarespace, Wix, WordPress, Webflow, or any other website bulder, you’re not just the designer. You’re the builder. The QA tester. The person who decides whether accessibility gets baked in—or quietly ignored.
Key takeaway: If accessibility isn’t considered during design, it rarely gets fixed later.
Color Contrast Is a Design Choice (Not a Dev Problem)
Color contrast is the accessibility issue I see designers trip over the most.
Contrast problems usually start in brand palettes and mockups — where we want to make everything look pretty or moody.
Low contrast makes text hard or impossible to read for
People with low vision
People with color blindness
People using screens in bright light
People who simply aren’t 25 years old with perfect eyesight
Minimum contrast ratios to know by heart
Normal text (up to 17pt): 4.5:1
Large text (18pt+ or 14pt bold): 3:1
Interactive elements (buttons, form controls): 3:1
Designing with contrast up front means you don’t end up redesigning an entire site at the eleventh hour because “the text is technically inaccessible.”
So, before you send your client that beautiful mockup of their brand book, TEST YOUR COLOR PALETTE! Read our post about Fixing Common Color Contrast Mistakes, to learn about some FREE tools you can use to check your color palettes.
Don’t Use Sensory Characteristics as the Only Way to Communicate
If you have design elements that rely on color or shape alone, someone is getting left out.
Some common problem areas include
Error messages shown only in red
Required fields marked only by “*”
Instructions like “click the green button”
Try these better design alternatives
Add text labels (Email* (Required)
Pair color with icons or symbols (i.e. a red “x” symbolizes exit)
Use borders, patterns, or shapes
Write instructions that make sense without seeing color or symbols
The MOST COMMON Real‑world example: Don’t just turn a form field red when there’s an error. Add an error icon, clear text explaining the issue, and keep the label visible.
Stop Designing with Images of Text
After color contrast, one of the major accessibility mistakes we see designers make is baking text into images.
You spend hours in Canva designing a stunning hero image and sales page graphics for your client. They have compelling headlines, strong visuals conveying their message, and maybe even a promo or discount code.
All you have to do now is upload your images and add some buttons, right?
Images of text look great in mockups — but fall apart in real life.
They
Don’t scale when users zoom
Become blurry on different screens
Cause text to be invisible to screen readers
Can’t be selected, copied, or translated
What you should be doing is adding any decorative image as a background image (so alt text is not needed), and designing all other content with basic html elements (i.e. headings, text blocks, buttons) within your website builder.
Take away: If the text matters, it shouldn’t be trapped inside an image.
Focus States Are Not Optional (Even If They’re “Ugly”)
This is one place a lot of otherwise‑good designs quietly fail.
That outline you see when tabbing through a page? That’s how keyboard users know where they are.
Removing focus styles is like
Removing hover states
Removing labels from form fields
Turning off navigation entirely for some users
Hard rule — Never remove focus indicators.
If your builder lets you customize them, great—make them obvious and on‑brand (keeping color contrast guidelines in mind. If not, leave the default. Default is better than invisible.
Clean, Predictable Layouts Are An Obvious must
Consistency isn’t boring—it’s usable.
When layouts, navigation, or components change behavior from page to page, users have to relearn how the site works. That’s exhausting for people with cognitive disabilities—and annoying for everyone else.
Accessible layouts should include
Use clear visual hierarchy, with proper heading structure
Keep navigation consistent from page to page
Avoid unnecessary clutter, white space is a good thing
Make similar elements behave the same way everywhere
Hot take: Familiarity reduces friction. Friction kills usability.
If you know Web Design 101, you already knew that and can check accessible layouts off your list.
Design Interactive Elements Like Real Humans Use Them
Tiny buttons. Packed links. Zero spacing.
These aren’t “clean.” They’re unusable.
Design with real hands, tremors, trackpads, keyboards, and thumbs in mind.
Generous click/tap targets
Adequate spacing between elements
Clear hover and focus states
WCAG recommends at least 24×24 CSS pixels for interactive targets—but bigger is often better.
Knowledge tip: Those spacing guidelines include the element itself, like a button, and the space around it before bumping into another interactive element.
Be Careful with Animation and Motion
Motion can be beautiful—or it can make someone nauseous.
Flashing, blinking, and excessive animation can
Trigger seizures
Cause dizziness or nausea
Overwhelm users cognitively
Use animation intentionally
Keep it subtle
Avoid flashing
Never auto play videos or GIFs
Give users controls
The Accessibility Mindset
You don’t need to memorize WCAG to design more inclusive sites.
You do need to
Think about real users
Test as you design
Stop assuming someone else will “fix it later”
Designers who understand accessibility
Catch problems earlier
Save clients money
Create better experiences
Stand out professionally
Accessible design isn’t about perfection. It’s about intention and making improvements with every website you build.
Design What You Love. Let Us Handle the Accessibility Testing.
You don’t need to become an accessibility expert to offer accessible websites.
If you love designing clean, thoughtful sites—but don’t want to run audits, interpret WCAG success criteria, or explain test results to clients—we’ve got you covered.
Our referral partner program is designed for web designers who want to:
Stay focused on design and conversion
Confidently offer accessibility-informed websites
Refer accessibility testing and remediation to a trusted specialist
Protect their clients (and themselves) from accessibility risk
You design — We handle the accessibility testing, audits, and technical fixes.
Interested in becoming a referral partner?
Get in touch to learn how we collaborate with designers to support accessible, inclusive projects—without adding more to your plate.
