10 Critical Insights on Why Good Designers Create Inaccessible Websites

Accessibility is the cornerstone of web design, yet even the most talented designers sometimes produce sites that exclude users. This listicle explores the paradox of good designers creating bad websites, drawing on key ideas from the web development community. Each insight unpacks a layer of this complex issue, from the moral imperative of inclusivity to practical solutions that make accessibility easier to implement. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out, these points will challenge your assumptions and offer actionable takeaways. Let’s dive into the ten things every designer needs to know about building truly accessible web experiences.

1. The Heart of the Problem: Intent vs. Outcome

Designers are inherently good people. No professional intentionally sets out to exclude users. Yet, time and again, we encounter websites where text is illegible, interactions are confusing, or devices are impossible to use. This disconnect between good intentions and bad outcomes is the core paradox. The issue isn’t malice—it’s a lack of awareness or prioritization. Accessibility often gets sidelined because it’s viewed as an afterthought, a checklist item rather than a fundamental design principle. When deadlines loom and budgets tighten, inclusive design is the first casualty. The result? A perfectly polished interface that fails a significant portion of its audience.

10 Critical Insights on Why Good Designers Create Inaccessible Websites

2. The Life-and-Death Stakes of Web Design

Some may argue that accessibility is nice-to-have, not essential. But consider this: a poorly designed bus timetable app can cause someone to miss their daughter’s fifth birthday party—a life event of immense importance. Worse still, it could prevent someone from reaching a dying grandmother’s bedside. These aren’t hypotheticals; they’re real-world consequences of design decisions. As Aral Balkan eloquently puts it in his essay “This Is All There Is,” nearly every digital product we create influences life events and death events. From healthcare portals to emergency alerts, the stakes are high. Ignoring accessibility isn’t just poor practice—it’s a moral failure.

3. Why Good Designers Still Exclude People

If designers care, why do exclusionary designs persist? The answer lies in the overwhelming volume of best practices. A designer must juggle usability heuristics, visual design trends, technical constraints, and accessibility guidelines—all while meeting business goals. It’s simply too much to remember. The human brain has limited cognitive capacity, and when faced with an avalanche of rules, designers resort to heuristics and shortcuts. Accessibility guidelines, though well-intentioned, often feel like an extra burden. The result is that even the most conscientious designer can inadvertently create barriers for users with disabilities.

4. The Power of Recognition Over Recall

Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics, dating back to the mid-1990s, offer a timeless framework. His sixth heuristic, “Recognition rather than Recall,” states that users shouldn’t have to remember information—it should be visible or easily retrievable. We can adapt this principle for designers. Instead of expecting designers to recall every accessibility guideline from memory, we should make that information visible and easily accessible during the design process. This shift from memory-based to environment-based knowledge can dramatically reduce errors and improve outcomes.

5. Embedding Accessibility Into Design Tools

One practical application of the recognition heuristic is to integrate accessibility checks directly into design software. Imagine a Figma or Sketch plugin that highlights low-contrast text, missing alt text, or improper heading hierarchies in real time. Such tools would make accessibility issues impossible to ignore. Similarly, component libraries could come pre-loaded with accessible defaults. By baking inclusive design into the workflow, we remove the cognitive load from designers. The information is there, right when they need it—no memorization required.

6. The Role of User Testing With Diverse Participants

No amount of guidelines can substitute for real user feedback. Testing with people who have different abilities—visual, auditory, motor, cognitive—reveals blind spots that even the best tools miss. A design that looks perfect on a high-resolution monitor might be unusable with a screen reader or keyboard-only navigation. Including diverse participants in usability testing shouldn’t be a luxury; it should be standard practice. When designers witness firsthand how someone struggles to use their creation, the abstract concept of accessibility becomes concrete and urgent.

7. The WCAG Framework: A Starting Point, Not a Finish Line

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the industry standard, but they can feel overwhelming. Many designers treat them as a compliance checklist, ticking boxes without understanding the underlying principles. This leads to superficial fixes that satisfy auditors but don’t truly improve user experience. Instead, we should view WCAG as a scaffold for inclusive thinking. The guidelines exist to prompt questions: Are we providing enough contrast? Can this be navigated by keyboard? Does every image have meaningful alternative text? The goal is not mere compliance but genuine usability for all.

8. Moving Beyond the “Average” User

Design methodologies often focus on the “typical” user—someone with perfect vision, full hearing, and average motor skills. This narrow focus creates products that exclude millions of people. The reality is that ability is a spectrum, and it changes over time due to age, injury, or environment. Designing for the average user is a fallacy. Instead, we need to embrace inclusive design from the start, considering edge cases as primary scenarios. This approach not only helps people with permanent disabilities but also those with temporary impairments (e.g., a broken arm) or situational limitations (e.g., bright sunlight).

9. The Business Case for Accessibility

Some organizations resist investing in accessibility because of perceived cost. However, inclusive design pays dividends: expanded market reach, improved SEO, reduced legal risk, and enhanced brand reputation. The global disability market is estimated to be over a trillion dollars. By excluding this demographic, companies leave money on the table. Moreover, accessibility improvements often benefit all users—think of captions that help people in noisy environments or high-contrast modes that reduce eye strain. In short, accessibility is not a charity; it’s a smart business strategy.

10. Cultivating a Culture of Empathy and Continuous Learning

Ultimately, the most powerful solution is cultural. Organizations must foster an environment where accessibility is everyone’s responsibility, not just a specialist’s domain. This means ongoing education, open dialogue, and a willingness to admit mistakes. Resources like Sarah Horton and Whitney Quesenbery’s book “A Web for Everyone” provide a roadmap. But more than any tool or guideline, what matters is empathy—the ability to imagine the experiences of users different from ourselves. When designers internalize that accessibility is about real people, not checkboxes, the quality of their work transforms.

In conclusion, the gap between good designers and bad websites is not due to lack of skill or caring. It stems from systemic issues: overwhelming amounts of information, insufficient tooling, and a culture that doesn’t prioritize inclusion. By recognizing these challenges and implementing practical solutions—like embedding accessibility into tools, testing with diverse users, and fostering empathy—we can close that gap. The web should work for everyone. Let’s make it a reality.

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