Accessible websites and user research
I find out what your people need before I build, and I make sure everyone can use the result. This is what I trained in: my doctorate is in how software should adapt to the person using it.
Who it is for
Organisations whose website or app has to work for everyone: the public, patients, students, staff, and people who use a screen reader or only a keyboard.
What you get
- Interviews and observation with the people who will use it.
- Designs tested with those people, before and after they are built.
- Websites and apps built to the recognised accessibility standard from the start.
- A plain list of what to fix on a site you already have.
How it works
I talk to the people who will use it and watch how they work. I turn what I learn into designs, and test those with the same people. I have done this with students, university staff and NHS patients.
When I build, accessibility is part of the work from the first page. It is not a check at the end.
What it costs to run
Accessibility is part of how I build, not an extra. Research takes time with real people, so its cost depends on how many people and how many rounds of testing.
I do not list prices here yet. Tell me what you need and I will tell you what it costs to build and what it costs to run.
Questions people ask
What accessibility standard do you build to?
The current international standard for accessible websites, at the level called AA. Every page is checked by automated tests before it goes live, and I check by hand that it works with a keyboard and a screen reader.
What is user research?
Finding out what people need by asking them and watching them work, before deciding what to build. Then testing what gets built with the same people.
Work like this
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ASICA
A research app on a tablet that helps people treated for melanoma check their own skin at home. Designed with patients and run in a six-month NHS pilot with twenty of them. I built the working prototype with a colleague.
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Student feedback platform
A university asked me for a way to collect feedback from students, to replace its old survey software. It runs annual surveys and short pulse surveys for each module. Nobody can trace an answer back to the student who gave it. It is in testing.
For IT people
I build to WCAG 2.2 AA. This site is tested against it with axe on every change, with JavaScript off, by keyboard and at 320px.
Tell me what you need
A few lines about the project is enough. I read every message myself. I meet people face to face within about 30 miles of Portsmouth, and work with organisations anywhere in the UK.
Or email hello@passionfruit.design, or call or WhatsApp 07385 509278.