From October 14th to 17th, the World Usability Congress was once again held in Graz, and we, the Interaction Design Master’s students from FH Joanneum, had the opportunity to attend on October 16th and 17th. It was my second time at the conference, and I was all the more excited to see familiar faces again, even if it was just DJ Mama Feelgood, a UX employee from Aldi Süd, and speaker as well as digital sustainability expert Thorsten Jonas. As in previous years, I enjoyed not only the good food but also took away many valuable insights from these two days, which I’d now like to share with you.
Before the conference even began, I was pleased to see that accessibility and inclusivity would be major topics this year, with many talks dedicated to these themes. As mentioned in previous blog posts, both accessibility and inclusivity are aspects of digital sustainability, which is the focus of my blog posts and my Master’s thesis. Therefore, I will mainly share insights from these specific talks.
Incluthon (Stefan Barac, Gerhard Kühne & Claudio Zeni)
The first talk I want to cover is Incluthon, with speakers Stefan Barac, Gerhard Kühne, and Claudio Zeni. Although there were some technical hiccups during the presentation, the speakers’ solution to these challenges was all the more likable. The talk focused on accessibility, with an emphasis on visually impaired and blind people. While Stefan and Gerhard discussed hard facts, Claudio offered a glimpse into his life as a blind person, showing us how he planned and booked his journey from Bern to Graz using his smartphone. Key takeaways from this talk included the fact that 27% of Swiss people require accessibility support. As designers, we should remove all unnecessary elements and information and constantly ask ourselves, “Can someone navigate this website, app, etc., without sight?” It was also interesting to learn that Apple’s iPhone is the most popular among visually impaired and blind individuals due to its accessible design, which remains consistent across versions and models, unlike Android.
Accessibility-First Approach to Data Visualization (Kent Eisenhuth)
Kent, a UX lead designer at Google, gave an impressive talk on accessible data visualization, which I’d also like to highlight. Here are some of my main learnings: as designers, we should occasionally go outside and closely observe nature, as it provides the best inspiration. To create the most accessible design, a diverse team that includes individuals using assistive technologies should be assembled. Moreover, accessibility should be the primary focus, followed by design enhancements. It’s also crucial to ensure navigation using alternative keys and shortcuts works effectively. Using logical hierarchies is key—starting with networks, then groups, and finally individual information. Visually, designers should avoid fixating on a single solution; if, for instance, charts don’t work, switch to tables or alternative storytelling methods to present data and information. One particularly intriguing example was data sonification, a new and lesser-known concept that hadn’t previously caught my attention.
Websites and Apps for Everybody – Making Accessibility Easy (Mari-Ell Mets)
The last talk I want to discuss is by Mari-Ell Mets from Estonia. She also addressed internet accessibility, highlighting both the EAA (European Accessibility Act) and presenting 10 rules that can eliminate 80% of internet barriers. She began her talk with an interesting fact: 25% of Europeans have specific needs that we must consider when designing digital products to avoid exclusion. I won’t cover the EU regulations since they are readily available online; instead, I’ll present the 10 rules.
- No moving content. No autoplay (or add stop button)
- Contrasted color with 4,5:1 for regular text and 3:1 for bold text. Don’t put text over an image.
- Adapt to user’s settings and don’t use pixel values in code
- Support keyboard navigation and use native / semantic elements
- Make focus point visible for keyboard navigation
- Specify the language in the code
- Visuals and the code must be connected
- Use ARIA attributes and mark visible states and values in code
- Use clear alt. text for visuals like images and icons
- Write clear error messages
Additionally: don’t use accessibility overlay plug-ins!
The World Usability Conference was inspiring, with a strong focus on accessibility and inclusivity—key themes in my Master’s thesis on digital sustainability. Claudio Zeni’s smartphone navigation as a blind user underscored the need for simplified, functional design, while learning about the iPhone’s popularity among blind users emphasized consistent usability. Kent’s “accessibility-first” approach and insights on diverse teams and data sonification broadened my perspective on accessible design. Mari-Ell’s practical guidelines for EU accessibility standards, from color contrast to keyboard navigation, were invaluable, emphasizing simplicity and user-centered code and visuals.
These sessions deepened my commitment to accessible design and provided practical guidelines to incorporate directly into my future work.
Links
World Usability Congress: https://worldusabilitycongress.com
European Accessibility Act: https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1202
Material Design Accessibility: https://m2.material.io/design/usability/accessibility.html#understanding-accessibility
