What are the key principles and guidelines for HMI accessibility and inclusivity?

1 What is accessibility?

Accessibility is the degree to which a system can be used by people with different characteristics and capabilities, such as age, gender, language, culture, disability, or context. It can improve the quality of life, productivity, and satisfaction of users while reducing errors, risks, and costs. To achieve accessibility, HMI designers should think about perceivability, operability, understandability, and robustness. Perceivability means having multiple modes of presentation to suit different sensory abilities and preferences. Operability requires multiple modes of input and output to suit different physical and cognitive abilities and preferences. Understandability involves providing clear, consistent, and intuitive information to suit different levels of knowledge. Finally, robustness entails being compatible with different devices, platforms, and assistive technologies while being resilient to errors and interruptions.

2 What is inclusivity?

Inclusivity is the degree to which a system can accommodate and respect the diversity and uniqueness of users, such as their identities, values, beliefs, and preferences. This can foster a sense of belonging, empowerment, and engagement among users, as well as promote social justice and ethical responsibility. To achieve this, HMI designers should consider representation, participation, co-design, and ethics. Representation should reflect the diversity of users and avoid stereotypes or discrimination. Participation should involve and empower users in the design process and enable them to customize their experiences. Co-design should support collaboration between users and designers and foster mutual learning. Ethics should adhere to principles such as privacy, security, transparency, accountability, and consent while respecting the rights of users.

3 How to apply accessibility and inclusivity principles?

HMI designers can apply accessibility and inclusivity principles in their projects by using resources and tools such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework, the Inclusive Design Toolkit (IDT), the Persona Spectrum, and User Testing. These methods and tools can help create systems that are accessible and inclusive for all users, thus improving the human-machine interaction. Following these principles and guidelines will ensure that users with diverse characteristics and capabilities are taken into account.

4 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?