Investing in accessibility and inclusion in digital services and products brings multiple tangible benefits. By creating digital experiences that everyone can use, you reach a larger audience and increase conversions while ensuring compliance with legal requirements and reducing legal risks. Additionally, accessible content enhances SEO. Accessibility and inclusion are not just socially responsible choices — they are competitive advantages that drive both business value and customer engagement.
Accessibility
As laws and regulations continue to evolve, the demands for accessibility are becoming increasingly stringent—and they are here to stay. It is no longer a matter of choice but a fundamental requirement, a hygiene factor for any professional web developer or designer. In short, accessibility is something every company should prioritize.
Accessibility is not just about making digital products more user-friendly; it’s about simplifying everyday life for people with temporary or permanent disabilities. Clear guidelines have been established by WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) to ensure that digital solutions are accessible to everyone. These guidelines are divided into three levels—A, AA, and AAA—and serve as a valuable resource for designers, developers, and anyone looking to create inclusive digital experiences.
A – The basic level, covering the most critical requirements, such as ensuring sufficient color contrast between text and background so that users can easily read content.
AA – The standard required by law for many organizations. For example, videos must include captions, and users must be able to stop, pause, and rewind video content. At Epinova, we follow AA standards as a default unless a client has specific requirements for a higher level.
AAA – The highest level of accessibility, which includes exceptionally high contrast, multiple navigation options, and simplified content. While meeting AAA standards is beneficial, it often requires a significantly higher level of ambition and effort.
Tillgänglighetsanalys
With our expertise in accessibility auditing, we help you ensure that your website is both compliant with the international standards of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and promotes an inclusive user experience.
User focus and empathy
Accessibility is not just about meeting requirements; it’s about creating digital solutions that work for everyone through a user-focused and empathetic approach. WCAG is built on four core principles, and following these principles helps create inclusive and user-friendly digital experiences.
Perceivable - Information and interfaces must be easy to perceive and understand.
Operable - All functions should be usable, even for individuals relying on assistive technologies such as screen readers or voice control.
Understandable - Interfaces and content should be intuitive, with clear language and support for multiple languages.
Robust - Digital solutions must be compatible with different devices, platforms, and assistive technologies.
If we don’t consciously include, we risk unconsciously excluding.
Inclusion
It’s easy to confuse inclusive design with accessible design, but there is a key difference:
Accessible design
Primarily focuses on removing concrete barriers that exclude certain users, such as poor contrast, unclear structure, or text that is too small.
Inclusive design
Takes a broader approach, identifying and addressing exclusion at a systemic level. While it often involves making design more accessible, it also aims to foster representation and a sense of belonging.
Inclusive design is a human-centered and empathetic approach that extends beyond accessibility. It seeks to make design as representative as possible by considering diversity and inclusion. This is achieved by learning about and understanding people from different backgrounds and perspectives. It encourages us to factor in elements such as body size, shape, age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, education level, income, language, culture, customs, and even dietary preferences when creating products and services.
In practice, this could mean choosing more diverse imagery to better represent a wider range of people, rethinking how much personal information we truly need when asking users to sign up for a newsletter or using clear and accessible language that avoids unnecessary complexity.
By integrating these considerations into the design process, we create products that welcome, acknowledge, and empower users — ensuring they feel seen, heard, and safe.
