What Does Inclusive Web Design Look Like in 2024?

As 2024 approaches, inclusive web design embraces differently abled individuals and cultural sensitivity. The more educated people become about such matters and how to navigate them, the more lines of communication open. With discussion comes an understanding of how best to meet everyone’s needs.

Artificial intelligence (AI) use is on the rise. The AI market will rise to approximately $298 billion in 2024. By 2030, AI market size will hit $1.8 trillion. Using AI helps create standards that work on a global scale and ensure you include all groups of potential customers.

Many of the improvements in inclusive web design are the result of AI and people becoming more aware of what works for differently-abled individuals. Here are some of the aspects inclusive design will embrace in 2024 and beyond.

1. User-Centered Design

A user-centric website takes the needs of all potential users into account. A more universal approach allows you to present different features to varying abilities. You will also become more inclusive of those living in other countries or from various backgrounds.

Conduct an in-depth analysis of each buyer persona. List pain points and what you can do to solve them for the person. Include all abilities in vision, physical capabilities, education, and life outlook.

To ensure your finished website is user-friendly, bring in people from different backgrounds to test the site. If they struggle through any part, brainstorm with them on what they need to access the information more easily.

When you put users at the forefront of everything you do, you will naturally consider how inclusive your designs are. It is easier to make adjustments when you can empathize with those around you. User-centered design considers all your site visitors rather than only the majority.

2. Powerful Personalizations

You have likely heard the buzz in the business world about implementing AI, considering its market size will rise to approximately $298 billion in 2024. Today’s machines do more than just process information — they are like mini-brains able to make decisions based on past interactions.

As 2024 arrives, expect artificial intelligence to grow even more and additional companies to adopt it. Machines are speeding up in what they learn and how they interact with humans daily.

Much of the advances in the last year are straight out of a science fiction novel. Expect to see even more jumps in ability than ever before and ways to help those who need data presented in a unique way.

AI takes all the information you have ever gathered about your customers and leads and sorts through them to segment your audiences.

Armed with detailed information about your customers, you can create powerful personalizations that speak to each person. Inclusive web design considers people from different backgrounds, ages, and walks of life. It does not leave anyone out, even if you only have one user with a special need.

AI looks at past browsing behavior and presents the most beneficial features for each user, regardless of their abilities. It can adjust what shows on a webpage in a flash or direct people to a landing page built exclusively for their needs.

Consider how Amazon presents a list of past browsing activity and makes suggestions on other things you might enjoy. Imagine an inclusive web design where a bot asks the person if they would like to switch to a different mode of communication, or if they need a brighter screen, darker screen, or larger buttons.

Utilizing AI in design allows you to meet people’s needs during every interaction. Machines also learn as they go, improving how they offer information and intuitively giving what the user needs.

3. Multimodal Approaches

Expect to see more multimodal approaches — design efforts often focused solely on the aesthetics of a site — in 2024. You can meet the needs of people of all abilities with such an approach.

When a person lands on a website, they should be able to communicate in various ways to move through the sales funnel. Speech, text, clickable buttons, and gesture recognition can all come into play with inclusive web design.

One example might be someone with quadriplegia accessing a website. They will either need to use speech recognition or facial gestures to go through the pages. Ramping up design techniques to offer more methods of communication includes all abilities and makes your designs more accessible.

Offer as many communication approaches as possible to meet the needs of your entire audience. Think about the number of smart speakers now in homes as an example.

Alexa and Google Homes continue to grow in popularity. People might use it to ask for data, so ensuring a voice-search-friendly design gives you an edge over the competition.

4. Cultural Sensitivity

People have become more culturally aware in the last decade as the internet opens up to people from all places and humans begin to talk more.

Education and understanding are the first steps to becoming more sensitive to others’ needs. The more individuals converse, the better they understand where the other is coming from.

Expect to see a consistent focus through 2024 and beyond on remaining culturally sensitive in word choices for website copywriting.

If you need clarification, stop and ask someone. It is better to speak up and say you are unsure if something is offensive than to post it and offend half your customers.

There might be an old saying that no publicity is bad publicity, but the truth is you can lose a lot of revenue by putting something negative into the world.

What this looks like for your organization may vary. Get feedback from a variety of customers and employees to ensure you are aware of crucial elements.

Ask trusted consumers you know will not be offended because they see you care and are trying to get it right. Be authentic and transparent with your intentions, and you will make a lot fewer missteps.

While it is important to become culturally aware, take notice of your customer base. If you have a mix of people, do not focus on one race, gender, or other demographic and ignore the others just to appear more inclusive.

Alternatively, you can be so diverse that you forget an entire group of people. Those individuals will then feel overlooked and may wonder if they are still a good fit for your company. Inclusivity should mean serving all potential audience members — not just new ones or a handful.

People are very perceptive of whether or not you are being authentic. Your inclusive web design choices should come from a place of wanting to be available to everyone rather than looking good on paper or social media. Be honest. Be forthright and your relationships with customers will improve.

5. Age Awareness

The number of senior citizens proliferates every day. Ten thousand people turn 65 in the United States daily, with experts stating there will be 104 million older adults by 2060. If you do not include seniors in your design efforts, they will go to a competitor that does. You risk losing people who may not be technologically savvy but have disposable income to spend.

Be aware of the needs of the older generation. Some may deal with vision issues, so using contrast can make reading on a screen easier. Consider if they have joint stiffness and need larger buttons and other potential considerations.

Videos may be challenging to hear, so make sure the volume is adjustable and loud enough initially. Can you include captions to make what people are saying in the video clearer? What about screen brightness?

However, aging does not necessarily mean people will have vision or hearing problems. Think through factors of aging, and how they impact the use of your product or service. What specific pain points do older adults have and how does it affect their experience with your brand?

Address any age-related issues through offers and overall design. The easier your layout is for seniors, the more likely they will focus on the message and turn from a browser into a lead.

6. Consistency Across Platforms

Something often overlooked in inclusive design is that people might access your site from different devices. Someone without access to the internet at home may go online via a library computer. Another person might pull up a smartphone and hop online. Ensuring consistency across all types of devices ensures everyone has the same experience.

People with visual challenges might need to access the site via a reader that reads image alt tags and text aloud. Consider the size of the buttons. Are they large enough for people of all physical abilities to tap easily?

Test everything thoroughly, and invite people from different backgrounds and abilities to try your design so you can make adjustments. Utilize the WCAG accessibility checklist to ensure you hit all the right points.

7. Inclusive Words and Images

Carefully consider all the content on your site. Think about the words you are using — for example, use words like “differently abled” or “cultural.” Be sensitive to what might sound offensive to someone else.

If you are not sure, assign a team to check over what you have written and make sure you are not using any inappropriate phrasing. Some things may be readily apparent, while others are more subtle and only understood by someone from that culture.

The images in web designs also matter. Avoid focusing exclusively on one race or ability. Instead, vary the photos to include people from all walks of life. 

8. Workplace Inclusivity

To improve your inclusive web design efforts, hire people from different cultures. If your team is a mix of ages, races, genders, and abilities, you will be more likely to catch any issues before they arise.

Add mentorship programs to educate each other about what is and is not appropriate. Develop teams of diverse individuals for a better understanding of what designs work.

When it comes time to test your design for inclusivity, a diverse workforce helps you bounce ideas off the team and figure out how to improve them before you present the final product to customers.

A more inclusive workplace also changes the people who work there. You will be more likely to consider the diversity of a design if you better understand where other people are coming from.

9. Collaboration With Diverse Teams

Adding diversity in your team also improves brainstorming. People with various abilities and backgrounds come together and throw ideas into the ring. The initial design will be more inclusive for the mix of thoughts. 

You can bring in freelancers and outside consultants to make your team more diverse. Smaller design agencies may not have the resources to have all demographics on staff. Finding ways to pull in other thinking without spending a fortune is helpful. 

10. Surveys of All Customers

Take time to survey all your audience. Ask them what works in the design and what they would like to see improved. When you poll those already in your fan base, you will get honest feedback to help your design thrive. 

Ask pointed questions but also give people an opportunity to add candid thoughts about how to better access your site. Those with different abilities use the internet and know what works for them and what does not. They will have ideas you might not have thought of that will improve the accessibility of your design.

11. Ongoing Improvement

One of the keys to a more diverse and inclusive web design is constantly looking for ways to improve what you already have. What designers knew last year is different than what they understand today about inclusivity. What will be revealed in 2024 remains to be seen. 

However, as time goes on, you can be sure new technologies will change the way different abilities access the internet. And culture will shift and change, making what is acceptable now different in the future. 

Be sensitive to language and new inventions and how you can utilize them to better include everyone. While it might be impossible to address every ability out there, you can certainly do your best to include as many people as possible.

What We Know About Inclusive Design

What we knew about inclusive design a few years ago seems old school today. Effort goes a long way to making your designs better. Be aware, talk to others, and continuously improve for a positive inclusive outcome.