Addressing accessibility requirements in design briefs

Don’t produce a design document that includes a design implementation recipe without including accessibility details.

Photo by Felipe Furtado on Unsplash

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A design brief is a description of a project and corresponding drawings (comps and wireframes, for example) created by a person or team in consultation with project stakeholders.

• Design briefs outline the deliverables and scope for project implementation and address both function and aesthetics, such as patterns and colors.
• Sometimes design briefs contain additional project logistics like schedule and budget.
• Design briefs usually have some type of stakeholder signoff process.
• If (when?) during implementation it is determined that a change is required, it must be agreed to by all parties and attached to the brief as an appendix. Sometimes these are referred to as “change orders”
• At the end, the design brief is used to evaluate the deliverable because they are incredibly useful as an accountability mechanism.

What level of accessibility detail should I include in a design brief?

The answer to this one is “it depends”.

• Does the stakeholder you are designing for have an accessibility statement? If so, you should definitely include a pointer to that statement in the brief’s accessibility section
• Include the supported platforms matrix. Identify what hardware, operating systems, browsers, and assistive technology should be tested.
• Are the implementors accessibility-novices? If so, the more accessibility detail in the design brief, the better. Tell them things like: page titles, header structure, alt text, expand/collapse announcements, focus order…