Tara Williams.

TARA (FEAR) WILLIAMS

Senior Executive Officer & Interaction (UX) Designer at Office for National Statistics

After graduating from MDX in 2016, I have continued learning about physical product design, digital product design of services - heck, I even learnt about surviving new motherhood in a pandemic! Yet, through all the formal education, self learning and working hours one thing I have gained the most is empathy. Having the ability to connect and empathise with users as a designer (for physical or digital products) is what will make your career great (and most importantly) rewarding.

Reshaping today’s design ideologies! When I was at MDX, I always had a focus on designing for those with disabilities, but looking back I wish I hadn’t. Why? Because I should not have had to. We are unfortunately in a world where we have products that unintentionally discriminate. I wish that instead of focusing on making products to help disabled people, I focused on redesigning products to be inclusive. Too many times I have heard ‘normal people won’t struggle’ using a product. To be clear, we are all normal and we should drop this word as designers if we cannot use it correctly.

Unfortunately, until I entered UX, I didn’t realise how much we as designers/creators take the ‘easy’ or ‘pretty’ route. We all are guilty (at some point) of dropping our jaw in amazement and applauding a beautiful user interface, commenting on how ‘polished’ a service is, from a mobile app or even a virtual reality world. Truth be told, however polished something may be, often what we make is ugly. Fashionable trends become outdated and the true ugliness is when you test a product on real people (not selected users) and they struggle or fail to use your product.

We all have different abilities and ailments, from temporary issues (i.e. conjunctivitis, or a broken hand), or permanent disabilities such as motor coordination, visual impairment or hard of hearing, and some people have specific learning disorders like dyslexia. Yet, with or without ailments people still need (or want) to go online and carry out tasks, yet the digital world seems to be very neglectful of people's needs, with many barriers, blockers or even cognitive overload.

Thankfully, the digital world seems to be quietly shifting towards inclusiveness with improving accessibility. Since working in Government (ONS), I have learnt about the Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC). DAC provides audits of accessibility with ratings and provides reports suggesting changes to improve accessibility. DAC does not give results from assumptions, all their user testing team have a disability, thus the audits very much highlight real life problems and not perceived issues. If you look at DAC it’s clear an amazing transformation is happening - larger companies are taking serious interest and using DAC and becoming inclusive. For example, some banks (i.e Lloyds and Halifax), retailers (Tesco and M&S), Universities (Cardiff and Oxford) the public sector and even some Non-Profit organisations (i.e. Money Advice Service) are developing and redesigning their services to provide an experience for all.

A digital reform is quietly happening, unnoticed by most and noticed by few (like the elephant in the room). I really hope we actively notice it, join and make it basic practice in what we do. Whatever you create, make it beautiful - sure... but more than anything, make it thoughtful, make it usable and make your work someone's effortless experience.

If large companies can start the movement of being accessible then it's only a matter of time for others to join, or better yet, it becomes law to pass a certain level of accessibility accreditation to create a digital product. DAC isn’t the only way we can improve (but it is a great place to start), some companies such as AirBnB, have a huge focus on usability research, and take enormous steps to continually evolve and improve inclusivity. Yes, AirBnB is a huge company, but regardless of company size, anyone can research open and available guidelines (such as Web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1) and put such guidelines into practice.

Our future as designers. A career in UX has challenged me at times (it's not a job you can leave at the office). When I browse online or even mobile Apps, I often find myself frustrated from lazy design or ignorance (be it intentional or not). There is clearly a long way to go to improve most digital products, but as frustrating as it is, I am so thankful I am not blinded by beautiful interfaces anymore. Now, I see someone asking for help (or giving up trying) on their laptop, tablet or mobile - regardless of how spectacular or beautiful an interface is.

So, to whoever reads this, I hope I planted a seed of empathy in your creations, that leads to inclusive design. A digital reform is quietly happening, unnoticed by most and noticed by few (like the elephant in the room). I really hope we actively notice it, join and make it basic practice in what we do. Whatever you create, make it beautiful - sure... but more than anything, make it thoughtful, make it usable and make your work someone's effortless experience.

Follow Tara (Fear) Williams on

Twitter @tazzyfear

Instagram @taz.fear

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tarafear/

Check-Out ONS: https://www.ons.gov.uk/

Article from #MDXPD: 5 Years On (Class of 2016), #MDXPD 2021 p.35-36