Archive for category: Random Stories

Original Source: https://www.sitepoint.com/top-wordpress-developer-plugins/?utm_source=rss

A review of top WordPress developer plugins in 2024 for crafting perfect websites, booking pages, and more.

Continue reading
Essential Plugins for WordPress Developers: Top Picks for 2024
on SitePoint.

Original Source: https://abduzeedo.com/rocrea-furnitures-sustainable-and-elegant-branding-visual-identity

Rocrea Furniture’s Sustainable and Elegant Branding & Visual Identity

abduzeedo0701—24

Discover how Hosam.Brands redefined Rocrea Furniture’s branding and visual identity with sustainability and elegance.

Rocrea Furniture, a UK-based brand, merges sustainability and elegance in its designs. Known for its commitment to eco-friendly materials and methods, Rocrea creates handcrafted pieces that resonate with environmentally conscious consumers. This article delves into how Hosam.Brands revamped Rocrea’s branding and visual identity, aligning with the brand’s core values and market position.

Rocrea Furniture stands out for its dedication to sustainability and elegance. The brand’s philosophy is to create furniture that not only serves contemporary living needs but also preserves the natural beauty of materials. Each piece is handcrafted, combining traditional craftsmanship with modern aesthetics, ensuring versatility and eco-friendliness.

Understanding the vital connection between brand perception and success, Rocrea enlisted Hosam.Brands to overhaul their brand and visual identity. The objective was clear: to ensure the brand resonated deeply with its ethos and stood out in a competitive market.

The comprehensive approach aimed to create a cohesive and powerful visual identity that reflected Rocrea’s commitment to sustainability and elegance.

The Challenge

Rocrea’s primary challenge was to design a unique and sustainable dining table that appeals to eco-conscious consumers in the UK. The table needed to incorporate a blend of modern and traditional elements, be space-efficient for urban living, and utilize environmentally friendly materials and production methods.

The Solution: Eco-Blend Dining Table

To meet this challenge, Rocrea developed the “Eco-Blend Dining Table.” This innovative product exemplifies Rocrea’s values:

• Sustainable Materials: Made from reclaimed wood sourced sustainably within the UK.

• Space-Efficient Design: Features a modular design perfect for urban living spaces.

• Blend of Aesthetics: Merges traditional craftsmanship with modern design elements.

• Eco-Friendly Finishes: Uses environmentally friendly finishes for durability and aesthetics.

• Local Production: Produced locally to reduce carbon footprint, packaged with eco-friendly materials, and offered at a competitive price point.

Visual Identity Elements

1. Logo Design: The logo created by Hosam.Brands is both modern and timeless, reflecting the brand’s blend of contemporary and traditional styles. It is simple yet elegant, embodying Rocrea’s sustainable ethos.

2. Color Palette: Earthy tones dominate the color scheme, emphasizing Rocrea’s commitment to natural materials and eco-friendly practices. These colors create a warm and inviting feel, aligning with the brand’s aesthetic.

3. Typography: The chosen fonts are clean and sophisticated, enhancing the brand’s modern yet classic appeal. This typography supports Rocrea’s identity as a provider of elegant and sustainable furniture.

4. Print Design: Hosam.Brands ensured that all print materials, from business cards to brochures, reflected the brand’s core values and aesthetic. Eco-friendly printing techniques and materials were used to stay true to Rocrea’s sustainability mission.

Rocrea Furniture’s redefined branding and visual identity by Hosam.Brands successfully encapsulates the brand’s dedication to sustainability and elegance. The Eco-Blend Dining Table serves as a testament to Rocrea’s innovative approach to eco-friendly design. For a closer look at the project, visit Behance.

Branding and visual identity artifacts

For more information make sure to check out  hosam.brands

Original Source: https://ecommerce-platforms.com/articles/shopify-editions-winter-2024

As someone who works regularly with the Shopify platform, exploring features, reviewing apps, and even helping to build and optimize websites, I always look forward to the company’s bi-annual “Editions” event. Twice a year, Shopify’s “Editions” announcements give me an insight into the new innovations the brand is investing in, and its evolving strategy for enhancing ecommerce.

The last Shopify Editions’ event from Summer 2023 introduced us to the rise of Shopify Magic (and Sidekick), Shopify’s AI-powered tools for site development and growth. Plus, it highlighted the new Shop app for mobile shoppers, an enhanced admin interface and online store editor, as well as dozens of new tools and APIs for developers.

The Winter 2024 Editions event, taking place on January 31st, 2024, was just as exciting. Whether you’re a Shopify developer, store owner, or you’re simply interested in all of the unique new features Shopify has to offer, here’s your complete guide to the latest updates, for the start of 2024.

Key Takeaways:

Shopify’s conversion feature updates will give companies more freedom to sell and promote multiple variants of their products. They’ll also improve user experiences, through enhanced semantic search, and empower companies to sell more through bundles and subscriptions.

Shopify’s upgraded and extendible checkout experience will give companies more freedom to enhance the final point of the sales journey for customers. Organizations will also have access to new Shop Pay features, and checkout-focused apps.

Omnichannel updates on Shopify will enhance the in-store selling experience, with new Shopify POS features, and the powerful all-in-one Shopify Terminal. Plus, companies will be able to access more B2B sales tools, and advanced international sales features.

In the marketing space, Shopify is giving companies more tools for creating cross-channels campaigns, deeper insights into customer segments and audiences, and powerful solutions for tracking down collaborators and influencers.

New AI features in Shopify will simplify everything from photo editing, to page development, store creation, and sales optimization. Plus, companies will now have more advanced tools for automating workflows, and improving data privacy

What’s New in Shopify: Winter ‘24

Most Shopify Editions combine basic quality of life upgrades (like improvements to your Shopify dashboard and admin experience, with new features and capabilities). As we head into 2024, it seems like Shopify is investing heavily in positioning itself as the ultimate platform for scalable, omnichannel sales, with and flexible development.

To make it easier to understand the value of all the latest updates, I’m going to break them down into key sections. Feel free to skip to the segment that’s most relevant to you.

Shopify’s Conversion Feature Updates

To help boost retailer conversions in the increasingly competitive ecommerce world, Shopify has introduced various updates focusing on product merchandising, semantic search, store performance, and the already world-class Shopify checkout experience.

The Updates to Product Merchandising Tools

One of the most exciting “product merchandising” updates to emerge this year, was the new capability to create up to 2,000 variants of all your different products. In the past, you were limited to only 99 variants on Shopify. Now, there are new product APIs that give you complete control over offering your customers a range of options, with out creating endless separate listings.  

Currently, the GraphQL API is only available to select businesses, but it will be more accessible in the months and years ahead, giving you plenty of scope to scale your business.

On top of this, Shopify also introduced a “combined listings” app, which allows merchants to create product listings that combine all of the various variations of a products into a centralized product listing. Each variation can still have its own URL, image carousel, publishing controls, product description and title, to ensure every product stands out.

Plus, the updated taxonomy on Shopify means companies can now map each product category they offer to a range of associated attributes, making it easier to classify and organize products, and even generate variants automatically. Other updates include:

The ability to manage multiple variants at once with an updated variants card.

Flexible color and pattern swatches for every product listing.

A unified single file picker for videos, images, and 3D models on your product and variant pages.

The option to add new meta objects, or edit existing definitions for your metaobject-powered pages within the Shopify store editor.

Semantic Search and New Sales Experiences

Semantic Search is one of the most exciting new AI-powered storefront features on Shopify. The solution goes beyond basic “keyword matching” search tools, using intelligence to understand the intent behind each customer search. For instance, customers could simply search for “something warm for winter” to get a list of suggested products.

Companies can also add visual filters to swatches to filter the options customers see in search result pages and collection pages. Plus, you can customize your filter logic, to help customers find products that match various values. For instance, customers can search for jackets that are “short”, “insulated”, and “waterproof” at the same time.

Alongside the new search experience, Shopify is giving companies new ways to unlock additional revenue, with new sales strategies. For instance, the native Shopify Subscriptions app, which I reviewed here, is now generally available. It allows companies to increase customer lifetime value and unlock recurring revenue with customizable subscriptions. Plus, it’s available for free.

Companies can also access:

Shopify Bundles: While Shopify bundles were already a feature on the platform, the number of products you can offer in a bundle has now been increased from 10 to 30.

New discounts: Companies can now access a wide variety of new discounts to entice buyers, such as “automatic free shipping” for customers who spend a certain amount, or “buy X, get Y” promotions. Customers will also see exactly how much they’re saving in the cart.

An enhanced web performance dashboard: The new web performance dashboard integrated into Shopify helps companies to enhance customer experience with insights into three of the most important “Core Website Vitals” recognized by Google.

The Upgraded Shopify Checkout Experience

Shopify has boasted one of the most powerful and intuitive checkout experiences for years. However, many clients and companies I’ve worked with have lamented the fact that the checkout hasn’t been particularly customizable. Now, that could be starting to change.

Shopify has introduced 14 new APIs and UI components, to help Shopify Plus users create unique checkout experiences. The new checkout extensibility offerings may only be available to Shopify Plus vendors, but there are various other upgrades to the checkout to explore too, such as:

Shopify’s one-page checkout design is now the standard for the platform, reducing buyer completion times by up to 4 seconds, and accelerating loading speeds.

90+ new apps on the Shopify app store, specifically designed to enhance checkout interactions with upsells, loyalty programs, conversion tracking, and surveys.

New Shop Pay features, such as the ability to integrate Shop Pay with any checkout, and boost conversion rates with Shop Pay Instalments.

Checkout sheet kits: The checkout sheet kit allows companies to bring their own customized checkout experience directly into an ecommerce mobile app.

Thank you and order page extensions, available to customize with your brand logo, colors, font choices, headers, and images.

Shopify’s Omnichannel Updates

One of the main reasons why I often recommend Shopify as a top choice for ecommerce vendors, is that it’s so flexible. With Shopify you can sell through your own website, marketplace channels, social media platforms, and even in-person, with Shopify POS.

The introduction of Shopify POS Terminal in Shopify Editions Winter ’24 will further enhance in-store sales experiences, giving companies an all-in-one solution for accepting tap, chip, and swipe payments, capturing customer information, and showcasing their brand.

The POS offering also now includes:

The ability to manage UI extensions across various locations within the admin interface.

A streamlined smart grid editor in the admin interface.

Customizable receipts that match your brand image perfectly.

Access to fulfilment tasks and features within Shopify POS.

The option to attribute online sales to retail locations with “Send Cart”.

Shopify tax for managing taxes, cancelling, and voiding orders in Shopify POS.

Advanced security with new staff permissions and enhanced PINs.

Retail inventory transfers with the Stocky inventory transfers app extension

Shopify also made its Shopify POS Go hardware available to companies in the UK and Ireland this year, and even introduced a new feature that allows users to log out from devices remotely.

Shopify B2B Updates

If you’re running a B2B company on Shopify, you’re in luck. This year’s latest Editions’ event revealed a host of updates for B2B companies, including a brand-new theme, specially designed for B2B wholesale companies, and a new set of tools for staff permissions.

For instance, you can now determine which staff members should be able to place orders, view customer information and more for specific locations.

Shopify also introduced:

Headless B2B storefronts: You might already be familiar with Shopify’s tools for headless commerce, like the Hydrogen platform. Now, these tools are also available for B2B storefronts, allowing users to create unique experiences by combining Shopify’s ecommerce capabilities with bespoke front-end designs.

Shopify Collective: Shopify’s Collective solution allows companies to expand their product portfolio with access to thousands of third-party brands. You can narrow your search for marketplace partners using a range of filters for category, margins, free shipping, and more. And even track Shopify collective orders on a supplier timeline.

Marketplace connect: Shopify Marketplace Connect upgrades now allow companies to select inventory locations for each regional marketplace, and streamline the apparel listing process with automation tools.

Plus, Shopify just partnered with Faire, one of the world’s leading wholesale companies, to help brands reach new B2B customers through the Faire: Sell Wholesale app.

Shopify Markets Pro: Simplified international Selling

If you sell products internationally, you’re probably already familiar with Shopify Markets – one of my favorite tools offered by the company. Shopify Markets allows you to identify, setup, and manage international market experiences from a single store.

In Editions Winter ’24, Shopify announced the general release of Shopify Markets Pro, an upgraded version of Shopify Markets with even more automation, a merchant record of service, and exciting new features, like standard delivery options accessible through DHL, and USPS, and the option to “filter by market” in your Shopify analytics.

There’s also a newly improved search function in the “Translate and Adapt” app for Shopify Markets, that helps to give users a more streamlined shopping experience.

Other updates to the Shopify Markets experience include the ability to edit orders from the order detail page, to offer payment in multiple currencies and invoice buyers. You can also access the “fulfillable inventory” tool, to match your inventory location with your intended market.

Shopify Marketing Updates

Before the latest update, Shopify already offered companies a handful of impressive marketing tools and features, including an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) friendly web design experience, Shopify Inbox for customer communications, and Shopify Audiences.

Now, companies will also have access to:

Advanced Shopify Audiences features: Shopify has developed enhanced algorithms that maximize performance on top of ad platforms. Plus, Shopify allows companies to compare ad performance to similar stores and industry groupings in Shopify Audiences.

Upgraded Shopify Collabs: Store owners can now easily discover creators across social platforms from within Shopify, accessing new tools for brand reputation development and growth. You can also pay commissions on autopilot with Shopify billing, and create consolidated creator profiles for all of your partners.

Shop Campaigns: Shop Campaigns empowers companies to attract new customers across a range of channels. You can create advertising initiatives to attract customers on the Shop app, the web, and soon, Google and Meta too. Plus, Shopify offers real-time analytics and estimates to help you scale campaigns.

New “Shop” features also allow companies to create shoppable videos and product recommendation quizzes, and increase order conversions using new lead capture forms. There’s even an enhanced “Shop AI assistant”, that can deliver personalized recommendations to customers.

For social proof, companies can display reviews across a wider range of surfaces, like your online store, Shop app, and Shopify Collective. Plus, you can add a “verified by Shop” badge to your online store. On top of all that, there are even more powerful marketing integrations to access in the Shopify app store, which can sync data between multiple marketing channels.

What’s more, you can use historical and predictive spend metrics in your Cohort analysis reports to increase insights into customer lifetime value.

Shopify Operations Updates: AI Innovations

While there have been a number of updates to the “Operational” experiences offered by Shopify, the most exciting announcements for me are all linked to Shopify’s investment in artificial intelligence.

Since Shopify made waves in 2023 with Shopify Magic, it’s been exploring ever-more exciting ways to empower companies with intelligent tools. Companies can now transform product images and photography with AI, using text-based prompts to manipulate their visual content.

You can remove and replace backgrounds, update image quality, and more, all without any design skills. You can also use Shopify Magic to make creating content a lot quicker and simpler. Just ask the tool to write a page for your brand, such as an FAQ page, and tweak the responses as needed.

Shopify Sidekick is also better than ever, with more in-depth insights into your organization, so it can provide you with tailored advice relevant to your business.

Other Major Shopify Operations Updates

Alongside the addition of enhanced AI tools, Shopify has also introduced features like:

Advanced data privacy: Increase customer trust with privacy and consent management tools organized onto centralized pages within your Shopify admin.

Shopify lending: A flexible new lending portfolio, building on Shopify Capital, to give companies access to Line of Credit, Term loan, and Cash advance options.

Shopify Tax: Shopify’s US sales tax report can automatically streamline your tax filing tasks, adapting calculations to your specific state and filing period.

Shopify app updates: With the Shopify Ios and Android apps, companies can now access a widget for tracking store performance, and even create interactive 3D models of products.

Stronger Shopify Flow experiences: Shopify Flow, the company’s innovative automated workflow builder now has more templates, and allows companies to set up automated notifications for failed workflows.

Enhanced shipping and fulfillment: Shopify’s shipping and fulfillment tools now come with fulfillable inventory tools, always-on address validation, and more options to edit shipping costs and discounts on orders.

There’s also advanced “native exchanges” available in Shopify, to help companies create, track, and manage exchanges for any order in the admin dashboard. Plus, Shopify’s app store has been enhanced with AI recommendations that guide companies to the add-ons and integrations they might need.

Other Major Shopify Updates for 2024

Alongside all of the significant updates and announcements mentioned above, Shopify also revealed a range of impending enhancements for developers in the Shopify community. Since I’m not a developer, I didn’t want to focus too heavily on these updates. However, you can expect to see:

New theme blocks: New reusable and customizable theme blocks and block presets, designed to help developers rapidly build custom stores and even dashboards for monitoring ecommerce site performance.

Hydrogen updates: The headless Hydrogen developer experience is being enhanced with features like the Subrequest profiler for site optimization, and tools for tracking the source of code errors. Plus, there will be tokenized links, customer privacy APIs, runtime mirroring solutions, and the ability to upgrade Hydrogen projects from the Shopify CLI.

Greater extensibility: Developers will now be able to build extensions directly into new accounts with the same UI components as Shopify checkout, alongside extension APIs, new components, and external network calls.

Other updates include the new Store Credit API and Primitive, a more developer-friendly Shopify Flow experience, and new tools to help developers list and earn money from their apps.

Exploring the Incredible Updates from Shopify Editions

I always love analyzing the latest updates revealed in Shopify’s “Editions” events. This year, Shopify is releasing even more features and tools that will help companies increase their sales, upgrade their marketing strategy, and unlock new avenues of revenue.

At the same time, the Shopify building, and development experience is becoming simpler and more flexible, with the addition of enhanced tools, and artificial intelligence.

All of these updates indicate Shopify is still perfectly positioned to preserve its reputation as one of the top ecommerce and SaaS platforms for growing brands.

The post Shopify Editions Winter 2024: The Most Important Releases, Updates, and Key Takeaways appeared first on Ecommerce Platforms.

Original Source: https://smashingmagazine.com/2024/06/how-make-strong-case-accessibility/

Getting support for accessibility efforts isn’t easy. There are many accessibility myths, wrong assumptions, and expectations that make accessibility look like a complex, expensive, and time-consuming project. Let’s fix that!

Below are some practical techniques that have been working well for me to convince stakeholders to support and promote accessibility in small and large companies.

This article is part of our ongoing series on UX. You might want to take a look at Smart Interface Design Patterns 🍣 and the upcoming live UX training as well. Use code BIRDIE to save 15% off.

Launching Accessibility Efforts

A common way to address accessibility is to speak to stakeholders through the lens of corporate responsibility and ethical and legal implications. Personally, I’ve never been very successful with this strategy. People typically dismiss concerns that they can’t relate to, and as designers, we can’t build empathy with facts, charts, or legal concerns.

The problem is that people often don’t know how accessibility applies to them. There is a common assumption that accessibility is dull and boring and leads to “unexciting” and unattractive products. Unsurprisingly, businesses often neglect it as an irrelevant edge case.

So, I use another strategy. I start conversations about accessibility by visualizing it. I explain the different types of accessibility needs, ranging from permanent to temporary to situational — and I try to explain what exactly it actually means to our products. Mapping a more generic understanding of accessibility to the specifics of a product helps everyone explore accessibility from a point that they can relate to.

And then I launch a small effort — just a few usability sessions, to get a better understanding of where our customers struggle and where they might be blocked. If I can’t get access to customers, I try to proxy test via sales, customer success, or support. Nothing is more impactful than seeing real customers struggling in their real-life scenario with real products that a company is building.

From there, I move forward. I explain inclusive design, accessibility, neurodiversity, EAA, WCAG, ARIA. I bring people with disabilities into testing as we need a proper representation of our customer base. I ask for small commitments first, then ask for more. I reiterate over and over and over again that accessibility doesn’t have to be expensive or tedious if done early, but it can be very expensive when retrofitted or done late.

Throughout that entire journey, I try to anticipate objections about costs, timing, competition, slowdowns, dullness — and keep explaining how accessibility can reduce costs, increase revenue, grow user base, minimize risks, and improve our standing in new markets. For that, I use a few templates that I always keep nearby just in case an argument or doubts arise.

Useful Templates To Make A Strong Case For Accessibility
1. “But Accessibility Is An Edge Case!”

❌ “But accessibility is an edge case. Given the state of finances right now, unfortunately, we really can’t invest in it right now.”

🙅🏽♀️ “I respectfully disagree. 1 in 6 people around the world experience disabilities. In fact, our competitors [X, Y, Z] have launched accessibility efforts ([references]), and we seem to be lagging behind. Plus, it doesn’t have to be expensive. But it will be very expensive once we retrofit much later.”

2. “But There Is No Business Value In Accessibility!”

❌ “We know that accessibility is important, but at the moment, we need to focus on efforts that will directly benefit business.”

🙅🏼♂️ “I understand what you are saying, but actually, accessibility directly benefits business. Globally, the extended market is estimated at 2.3 billion people, who control an incremental $6.9 trillion in annual disposable income. Prioritizing accessibility very much aligns with your goal to increase leads, customer engagement, mitigate risk, and reduce costs.” (via Yichan Wang)

3. “But We Don’t Have Disabled Users!”

❌ “Why should we prioritize accessibility? Looking at our data, we don’t really have any disabled users at all. Seems like a waste of time and resources.”

🙅♀️ “Well, if a product is inaccessible, users with disabilities can’t and won’t be using it. But if we do make our product more accessible, we open the door for prospect users for years to come. Even small improvements can have a high impact. It doesn’t have to be expensive nor time-consuming.”

4. “Screen Readers Won’t Work With Our Complex System!”

❌ “Our application is very complex and used by expert users. Would it even work at all with screen readers?”

🙅🏻♀️ “It’s not about designing only for screen readers. Accessibility can be permanent, but it can also be temporary and situational — e.g., when you hold a baby in your arms or if you had an accident. Actually, it’s universally useful and beneficial for everyone.”

5. “We Can’t Win Market With Accessibility Features!”

❌ “To increase our market share, we need features that benefit everyone and improve our standing against competition. We can’t win the market with accessibility.”

🙅🏾♂️ “Modern products succeed not by designing more features, but by designing better features that improve customer’s efficiency, success rate, and satisfaction. And accessibility is one of these features. For example, voice control and auto-complete were developed for accessibility but are now widely used by everyone. In fact, the entire customer base benefits from accessibility features.”

6. “Our Customers Can’t Relate To Accessibility Needs”

❌ “Our research clearly shows that our customers are young and healthy, and they don’t have accessibility needs. We have other priorities, and accessibility isn’t one of them.”

🙅♀️ “I respectfully disagree. People of all ages can have accessibility needs. In fact, accessibility features show your commitment to inclusivity, reaching out to every potential customer of any age, regardless of their abilities.

This not only resonates with a diverse audience but also positions your brand as socially responsible and empathetic. As you know, our young user base increasingly values corporate responsibility, and this can be a significant differentiator for us, helping to build a loyal customer base for years to come.” (via Yichan Wang)

7. “Let’s Add Accessibility Later”

❌ “At the moment, we need to focus on the core features of our product. We can always add accessibility later once the product is more stable.”

🙅🏼 “I understand concerns about timing and costs. However, it’s important to note that integrating accessibility from the start is far more cost-effective than retrofitting it later. If accessibility is considered after development is complete, we will face significant additional expenses for auditing accessibility, followed by potentially extensive work involving a redesign and redevelopment.

This process can be significantly more expensive than embedding accessibility from the beginning. Furthermore, delaying accessibility can expose your business to legal risks. With the increasing number of lawsuits for non-compliance with accessibility standards, the cost of legal repercussions could far exceed the expense of implementing accessibility now. The financially prudent move is to work on accessibility now.”

You can find more useful ready-to-use templates in Yichan Wang’s Designer’s Accessibility Advocacy Toolkit — a fantastic resource to keep nearby.

Building Accessibility Practices From Scratch

As mentioned above, nothing is more impactful than visualizing accessibility. However, it requires building accessibility research and accessibility practices from scratch, and it might feel like an impossible task, especially in large corporations. In “How We’ve Built Accessibility Research at Booking.com”, Maya Alvarado presents a fantastic case study on how to build accessibility practices and inclusive design into UX research from scratch.

Maya rightfully points out that automated accessibility testing alone isn’t reliable. Compliance means that a user can use your product, but it doesn’t mean that it’s a great user experience. With manual testing, we make sure that customers actually meet their goals and do so effectively.

Start by gathering colleagues and stakeholders interested in accessibility. Document what research was done already and where the gaps are. And then whenever possible, include 5–12 users with disabilities in accessibility testing.

Then, run a small accessibility initiative around key flows. Tap into critical touch points and research them. As you are making progress, extend to components, patterns, flows, and service design. And eventually, incorporate inclusive sampling into all research projects — at least 15% of usability testers should have a disability.

Companies often struggle to recruit testers with disabilities. One way to find participants is to reach out to local chapters, local training centers, non-profits, and public communities of users with disabilities in your country. Ask the admin’s permission to post your research announcement, and it won’t be rejected. If you test on site, add extra $25–$50 depending on disability transportation.

I absolutely love the idea of extending Microsoft’s Inclusive Design Toolkit to meet specific user needs of a product. It adds a different dimension to disability considerations which might be less abstract and much easier to relate for the entire organization.

As Maya noted, inclusive design is about building a door that can be opened by anyone and lets everyone in. Accessibility isn’t a checklist — it’s a practice that goes beyond compliance. A practice that involves actual people with actual disabilities throughout all UX research activities.

Wrapping Up

To many people, accessibility is a big mystery box. They might have never seen a customer with disabilities using their product, and they don’t really understand what it involves and requires. But we can make accessibility relatable, approachable, and visible by bringing accessibility testing to our companies — even if it’s just a handful of tests with people with disabilities.

No manager really wants to deliberately ignore the needs of their paying customers — they just need to understand these needs first. Ask for small commitments, and get the ball rolling from there.

Set up an accessibility roadmap with actions, timelines, roles and goals. Frankly, this strategy has been working for me much better than arguing about legal and moral obligations, which typically makes stakeholders defensive and reluctant to commit.

Fingers crossed! And a huge thank-you to everyone working on and improving accessibility in your day-to-day work, often without recognition and often fueled by your own enthusiasm and passion — thank you for your incredible work in pushing accessibility forward! 👏🏼👏🏽👏🏾

Useful Resources
Making A Case For Accessibility

“How To Make The Business Case For Accessibility”, by R Gregory Williams
“How We’ve Built Accessibility Research at Booking.com”, by Maya Alvarado
“Designer’s Accessibility Advocacy Toolkit”, by Yichan Wang
“Making The Case for Accessibility”, by Susanna Zaraysky
“Making A Strong Case For Accessibility”, by Todd Libby
“Accessibility Case Studies and Success Stories”, by Deque
“Inclusive Design Toolkits and Templates”, by yours truly

Accessibility Testing

“A Comprehensive Guide to Accessible UX Research”, by Brian Grellmann
“Inclusive User Research: Recruiting Participants”, by Ela Gorla
“Testing With Blind Users: A Cheatsheet”, by Slava Shestopalov
“Mobile Accessibility Research with Screen-Reader Users”, by Tanner Kohler
“How To Conduct UX Research With Participants With Disabilities”, by Peter McNally
“How To Conduct Accessibility UX Research”, by AnswerLab

Meet Smart Interface Design Patterns

If you are interested in UX and design patterns, take a look at Smart Interface Design Patterns, our 10h-video course with 100s of practical examples from real-life projects — with a live UX training later this year. Everything from mega-dropdowns to complex enterprise tables — with 5 new segments added every year. Jump to a free preview. Use code BIRDIE to save 15% off.

Meet Smart Interface Design Patterns, our video course on interface design & UX.

Jump to the video course →

100 design patterns & real-life
examples.
10h-video course + live UX training. Free preview.

Original Source: https://www.sitepoint.com/how-top-hr-agencies-build-trust-through-logo-designs/?utm_source=rss

Learn five key ways a well-structured, professional corporate identity can help to cultivate trust in an audience.

Continue reading
How Top HR Agencies Build Trust Through Logo Designs
on SitePoint.