Inclusive Design and Accessibility in Modern Product Development

TL;DR

Accessibility has evolved from an ethical consideration to a legal mandate enforced with the same rigor as GDPR. The European Accessibility Act is now in effect, U.S. lawsuits are accelerating, and compliance is not negotiable. But beyond legal requirements, inclusive design delivers measurably better products: when you solve for specific constraints, like limited mobility or bright sunlight, you improve the experience for everyone. Start by embedding accessibility from research through post-launch, use semantic HTML as your foundation, and test with the same assistive technologies your users rely on.

Inclusive design in digital product development means building software that works for everyone—across abilities, ages, languages, devices, and contexts—by considering human diversity from day one. Rather than retrofitting accessibility at the end, inclusive design embeds it into research, UX, engineering, and QA. Hence, products are usable by people with visual, auditory, motor, cognitive, and situational limitations (like glare, slow networks, or one-handed use). This approach aligns with globally recognized accessibility standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which define how to make digital products perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust for all users.

Why does this matter now? 

• First, usability expectations are high. Users abandon products that are confusing, slow, or inaccessible. 

• Second, inclusive design expands market reach. An estimated 1.3 billion people (16% of the world's population) live with a significant disability, and building accessibility opens products to a vast audience with real purchasing power. 

• Third, ethics and compliance are no longer optional. Accessibility regulations (e.g., ADA in the U.S., EAA in the EU) are increasing scrutiny on digital services, and organizations that fail to comply face legal and reputational risk. 

In this article, you'll learn how inclusive design directly improves usability and user experience, how it translates into measurable business outcomes (conversion, retention, and brand trust), and how product teams can operationalize accessibility, from discovery through delivery, without slowing innovation. You'll also see practical examples and a checklist you can apply to your next build to make "accessible by default" your competitive edge.

What's the Difference Between Inclusive and Accessible Design?

Given the legal requirements and business stakes outlined above, product design teams need clarity on what they're actually building toward. The terms "accessible,” "inclusive," and "universal" design are often used interchangeably in roadmaps and compliance audits, but they represent distinct approaches with different strategic implications.

What is Accessible Design

Accessible design focuses specifically on ensuring products can be used by individuals with disabilities. In practice, this means:

• Compatibility with assistive technologies like screen readers

• Clear visual hierarchy and adequate color contrast

• Keyboard navigation and focus states

• Removing barriers for users with permanent, temporary, or situational impairments

Accessible design typically aims to meet standards like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and is often driven by the legal requirements discussed earlier.

What is Inclusive Design?

Inclusive design takes a broader view, addressing the full spectrum of human diversity. It goes beyond disability to consider:

• Age and cognitive differences

• Culture, language, and gender

• Socioeconomic context and connectivity constraints

• Situational limitations (e.g., bright sunlight, noisy environments, one-handed use)

Inclusive design proactively anticipates exclusion from the earliest stages of product development, asking “who might we be leaving out?” rather than retrofitting solutions after issues are discovered.

What’s the Definition of Universal Design?

Universal design aims for "one-size-fits-most" solutions, products, and environments usable by the broadest possible range of people without requiring specialized adaptations. While ambitious, a purely universal approach can inadvertently overlook the most marginalized users by optimizing for common denominators rather than specific needs.

What happens if your website isn't accessible in 2025?

Building accessible products isn’t about ticking compliance boxes. It’s about reducing legal risk, unlocking untapped revenue, and meeting the basic expectations of modern users. In 2025, those expectations are no longer theoretical; they're financial, legal, and immediate.

In the U.S., digital accessibility lawsuits now exceed 4,000 cases per year. In 2024 alone, 4,280 lawsuits were filed, and 2025 is projected to reach 4,975 cases. That volume sends a clear message: accessibility has moved from a technical afterthought to a board-level business risk. E-commerce brands are carrying the greatest burden, accounting for 77% of lawsuits in 2024 and 69% in the first half of 2025. 

The financial exposure isn't limited to court filings. The U.S. Department of Justice can impose civil penalties of up to $75,000 for a first violation and $150,000 for repeat offenses, adjusted in 2024 to $115,231 and $230,464 to reflect inflation. These maximum fines apply to DOJ enforcement actions, but most companies face a more common and costly reality: private settlements typically range between $5,000 and $25,000 per lawsuit. Once legal fees, emergency remediation, and reputational damage are added, the true cost of inaccessibility becomes impossible to dismiss.

Europe is sounding an even louder alarm. As of June 28, 2025, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) is in full effect. Any company selling digital products or services in the EU must now meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA as a baseline legal requirement. Penalties vary by country, but enforcement is intentionally severe: fines reach €100,000 in Germany, €250,000 in France, and up to 5% of annual turnover in Italy. The rule is explicit; penalties must be "effective, proportionate, and dissuasive," mirroring the enforcement philosophy that made GDPR unavoidable.

The conclusion is no longer up for debate. Accessibility isn't becoming mandatory. It already is.

Why Inclusive Design Should Guide Your Product Strategy

Inclusive design should be the guiding philosophy, as anticipating all forms of exclusion delivers better business outcomes. How? 

Simply, when you solve for specific constraints, whether that's a user with limited mobility, someone using your app in bright sunlight, or a non-native speaker, you typically improve the experience for everyone.

Practice has shows that features designed for accessibility often become mainstream preferences; for example curb cuts were created for wheelchair users but are now used by parents with strollers, travelers with luggage, and delivery workers; captions were originally mandated for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, yet 59% of Gen Z and 52% of millennials now use subtitles regularly (Ypulse Survey, 2023), not because they need them, but because they prefer them.

How Do You Apply Inclusive Design in Practice?

Inclusive design is built on three interconnected principles: recognizing exclusion, designing for specific needs to benefit many, and offering multiple ways to engage.

Together, they shape how teams understand the diversity of real-world usage.

1. Recognize exclusion before it becomes a barrier

Every interface has the potential to exclude users through auto-advancing content, small tap targets, visual complexity, or interaction models that assume perfect dexterity or eyesight. When teams make exclusion visible in early conversations, they prevent expensive rework and avoid patterns that unintentionally block entire user groups.

2. Solve for one, extend to many

Designing for specific constraints reliably improves the experience for everyone. Take dark mode, originally introduced to reduce eye strain for users with light sensitivity. Today, most smartphone users prefer it for comfort, battery life, and readability.

3. Provide more than one way to engage

Users don’t all interact the same way. Some rely on keyboards or screen readers, some use touch or styluses, some prefer voice commands, and many switch between methods depending on context. Designing for a single interaction method makes a product brittle; supporting multiple methods makes it robust.

How These Principles Translate into Practical Guidelines

To apply the principles, teams need concrete guidelines that shape day-to-day design decisions. These fall into four major areas: interaction, readability, structure, and adaptability. 

Each area addresses a different dimension of human diversity.

Support Flexible Interaction

People use digital products in far-from-perfect conditions, while commuting, walking through stores, carrying groceries, nursing an injury, or managing limited dexterity. Inclusive products anticipate these realities by supporting multiple interaction methods, ensuring the interface works whether someone relies on keyboard, voice, touch, or assistive technologies.

• GitHub's multi-column mega menu shows that even complex navigation patterns can be fully operable by keyboard alone. Logical tab order and strong focus indicators guide users through each column in a predictable sequence, enabling them to open the menu, move across sections, and activate links without ever touching a mouse. 

Source: GitHub

• Apple's VoiceOver demonstrates the power of voice-supported interaction for users with vision impairments. VoiceOver reads interface elements aloud, enables rotor-based navigation, and allows blind users to open apps, browse lists, activate buttons, and complete tasks through a combination of gestures and spoken feedback. In practice, this makes iPhone apps fully operable without sight, supporting accessibility needs while also offering hands-free interaction in everyday scenarios.

• Target’s mobile app uses extra-large tap targets, nearly twice the WCAG minimum, to reduce the fine motor precision required to tap accurately. This is important because people usually use shopping apps while pushing carts, juggling items, walking the aisles, or scanning products with one hand. Larger touch targets help users with motor impairments, but they also prevent common, everyday errors like missed taps or accidental actions.

Source: Target Australia App

Prioritize Readability and Visual Clarity

Readability is crucial, as people with low vision, dyslexia, cognitive fatigue, older adults, and anyone using their phone outdoors or on a small screen can get the information without relying on contrast, zoom support, alt text, and so on. 

• Harvard University's website balances premium aesthetics with high accessibility: it uses high-contrast color palettes, a consistent type scale that remains legible in bright light, and a clear visual hierarchy that guides users through complex academic content. Importantly, these choices don’t feel “accessibility-driven” but just easier for everyone to read.

Source: Harvard.edu

Create Clear, Predictable Structure

Cognitive load affects all users, especially when they're tired, distracted, stressed, or using a product for the first time. Clear structure makes tasks feel understandable, safe, and manageable.

Successful inclusive products focus on three linked elements: plain language, predictable navigation, and simplified flows.

Plain language means writing so users understand quickly what’s happening. When technical or dense jargon appears, everyone slows down. For example, government guidance recommends aiming for 8th-grade readability because it helps users with cognitive disabilities and improves comprehension for all users.

Predictable navigation means users always know where they are, what to do next, and how to reach core content. Features like a consistent “Skip to main content” link reduce friction not just for keyboard or screen-reader users, but for anyone who wants the fastest route to information.

Simplified flows mean that when users must do something high-stakes, make a payment, submit a form, or perform a health task, the interface is unambiguous, consistent, and minimal. 

• The NHS (UK National Health Service) website is a strong example of a clear, predictable structure designed for moments when users are stressed, anxious, or in a hurry. Its pages use plain, everyday language (“Check symptoms,” “Get help now”), a consistent navigation pattern across all sections, and simplified page layouts with clear headings, short paragraphs, and scannable bullet points. Condition pages follow the same template, so once users understand one, they intuitively understand them all. This reduces cognitive load for users with cognitive disabilities, low health literacy, or limited English, and equally benefits anyone trying to find reliable health information quickly on a small screen or in a moment of urgency.

source: NHS.uk

Adapt to Context, Device, and Environment

People use digital products in constantly changing environments - bright sunlight, low-light rooms, noisy spaces, or hands-busy situations - so interfaces need to adapt to context and device. 

• Google Maps is a strong example of this adaptability: it automatically shifts its UI based on the situation, showing larger touch targets and simplified visuals in driving mode, streamlining directions for walking, and dimming the interface at night to reduce glare

When Should Accessibility Enter Your Development Process?

Short answer: from day one. Accessibility should “shift left” into every stage of product development.

What Does Accessible Code Actually Look Like?

Accessible engineering is about consistently applying three core habits: use semantic HTML, add ARIA only when it genuinely helps, and test with the same tools real users rely on. 

When teams get these three things right, most accessibility work becomes straightforward.

Semantic HTML: Your Built-In Accessibility Layer

Semantic HTML is the easiest way to make an interface accessible because it gives you keyboard support, focus management, and screen reader interpretation “for free.”

• Use native elements instead of impersonating them: a real <button> automatically supports keyboard activation, focus states, and screen reader announcements. A <div class="button"> supports none of that unless you rebuild it manually. The same rule applies to links, lists, forms, and navigation elements: if HTML has a native tag for it, use it.

• Structure content with real headings, not styled text: screen reader users navigate pages by jumping between headings. A page with a clear <h1> followed by logical <h2> and <h3> levels becomes instantly more navigable. The heading level should reflect structure, not visual style (CSS handles that).

• Use semantic landmarks to help users jump around: elements like <main>, <nav>, <header>, and <footer> act as “map markers” for assistive technology. Users can skip straight to the main content, jump to the navigation, or find a form without scanning the entire page.

Semantic HTML is the foundation of everything else. If this layer is solid, ARIA becomes supplemental.

ARIA: Powerful, but Only When You Need It

ARIA fills the gaps that HTML can’t. But it’s easy to misuse, and misused ARIA can break an interface for assistive technology users. The general rule is simple: if a native HTML element can do the job, use it instead of ARIA.

• Use <button> instead of <div role="button">

• Use <nav> instead of <div role="navigation">

• Use real lists instead of ARIA-labeled fake ones

Use ARIA only when native HTML isn’t enough, specifically to announce states, handle dynamic content updates, or support complex interactive widgets:

• Announce whether an accordion is open (aria-expanded)

• Alert users to dynamically updated content (aria-live)

• Label icon-only controls (aria-label)

• Link inputs to helper text (aria-describedby)

Testing: What Tools Catch vs. What Humans Catch

Automated tools are a fast way to catch predictable code-level mistakes, things like missing alt text, low-contrast colors, or invalid ARIA, but they typically surface only a third of real accessibility problems. 

To understand how your product actually behaves for users, you need to interact with it the same way they do. A simple keyboard-only pass (Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, Space, Arrow keys) immediately reveals issues like missing focus states, illogical focus order, or components that look interactive but aren’t operable without a mouse. 

Turning on a screen reader such as NVDA or VoiceOver shows whether your headings form a clear outline, whether icons have meaningful labels, whether form errors are announced, and whether dynamic content is conveyed at all. 

When this hands-on testing is combined with your automated checks, and validated by periodic sessions with real assistive-technology users, you get a far more accurate picture of whether your product is truly accessible.

Key Takeaways on Inclusive Design and Accessibility in Modern Product Development

1. Accessibility is mandatory: ADA enforcement is rising in the U.S., and WCAG 2.1 AA is a legal requirement in the EU under the European Accessibility Act as of 2025.

2. Inclusive design improves usability for everyone: Designing for real constraints produces simpler, more usable products for all users.

3. Lawsuits are costly even without maximum fines: Most accessibility claims settle for $5,000–$25,000, excluding legal and remediation costs.

4. Accessibility starts early and never stops: It must be built into research, design, development, and post-launch monitoring.

5. Code and testing matter more than checklists: Semantic HTML and assistive-technology testing uncover issues automation cannot.

Inclusive Design is a Competitive Advantage

Inclusive design is not a “nice to have,” and it’s not a one-time compliance project. It's a core part of building high-quality products that perform in the real world. Products that account for human diversity from the start are easier to use, more resilient to change, and better aligned with how people actually live and work. Just as importantly, accessibility work is never finished: standards evolve, user expectations rise, and new technologies constantly introduce new barriers and opportunities.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines themselves are regularly updated to reflect this reality, reinforcing that accessibility is a living practice, not a static checklist. The most effective teams treat inclusive design as a continuous improvement cycle, not a cleanup task.

The next step is simple but powerful: audit your current product, review how accessibility is incorporated into your design and development process, and start the conversation across your teams today. The earlier inclusive thinking becomes part of daily work, the easier it is to build products that last, legally, commercially, and ethically.