Graphic Design for Social Media

Inaccessibility is all around us - but sometimes we’re doing it without even realising. I’ve made every one of these mistakes in the past. It wasn’t until someone took the time to point them out that I learned how inaccessible I was being - despite having good intentions. Here are 5 ways you might be being inaccessible, without even knowing: 1. Long LinkedIn headlines or overuse of emojis. Screen reader users hear your full headline every single time you post or comment. Every. Single. Time. Even when it’s truncated visually. That can mean hearing your full job title, emojis, and taglines multiple times before even reaching your post content. Try to keep your headline under 100 characters or two lines max - it makes a huge difference. 2. Long email signatures, HTTP links, and unlabelled images. Screen readers will read out every line - including things like “H-T-T-P-colon-slash-slash…” for full URLs. Images without alt text are completely invisible to screen reader users. Keep it short and simple, and use alt text wherever you can. Put only essential info in your email signature and put two dashes at the top to signal your signature is starting. And remember, it’s not your marketing tool. When was the last time you actually bought something from an email signature?! 3. Not running documents through the accessibility checker. You run a spell check, so why not an acceeeibility check? It’s a quick step, but it can flag things like heading structures, contrast issues, and missing image descriptions. It takes seconds and makes a big impact. 4. Using colour alone to convey meaning. For example, “I’ve marked the important cells in green” doesn’t help if someone can’t perceive colour easily. Neither does “I’ve shaded the cells for our RAG status”. Always add a label, icon, or another indicator. 5. Using all lowercase hashtags. #thisisnotaccessible - screen readers can’t parse where one word ends and another begins. Use camel case instead - #ThisIsAccessible - so screen readers pronounce the words correctly. Small changes, big impact. If you’ve made some of these mistakes before - welcome to the club. We learn, we improve, we do better. #DisabilityInclusion #Disability #DisabilityEmployment #Adjustments #DiversityAndInclusion #Content #A11y

🚫 I know this post won’t be popular. But it needs to be said. You’ve probably seen dynamic Hormozi-style captions. Those fast-moving, flashy, high-energy subtitles influencers swear by. They’re everywhere. And yes, they drive views. But what gets attention isn’t always what serves the audience. Here’s the problem. They're not accessible. Let's break it down: - Non-standard colors make text hard to read and cause eye strain. - One or two words at a time are too fast for many viewers. - Motion effects like seesawing cause nausea and distraction. - Karaoke-style pacing forces viewers to follow a rhythm they didn’t choose. - Emphasized words in different colors dilute the message. - ALL hurt readability. Isn’t the message the most important thing? Let the video and its content be the star. If creators want pizzazz, they can add flashy text outside the captions. That’s why I advocate for closed captions. The kind that lets viewers control their captioning preferences. Captioning best practices are simple: * Plain sans-serif font. * Off-white text on off-black background. * Sentence case. * No motion. I know it’s hard to convince creators to change. Influencers are showing them the money. But accessibility isn’t optional. It’s essential. I’ve seen how inaccessible captions can shut people out of the conversation. That's not okay. I’ve worked with creators and audiences who rely on captions. This isn’t theoretical. It’s real. I made a short video to show the difference. Watch it and tell me: Are we prioritizing style over substance? What do you think? Can accessibility and engagement coexist? Reach out if you want help making your content more inclusive. I consult with creators, marketers, and teams who care about accessibility and impact. 🔔 Tap profile bell (You may need to do it again. LinkedIn reset it.) 👉 Follow #MerylMots for past posts #UX #Communication Video description: Identical side-by-side talking head videos of Meryl. Left has boring captions. Right has different dynamic caption styles.

💎 Accessibility For Designers Checklist (PDF: https://lnkd.in/e9Z2G2kF), a practical set of cards on WCAG accessibility guidelines, from accessible color, typography, animations, media, layout and development — to kick-off accessibility conversations early on. Kindly put together by Geri Reid. WCAG for Designers Checklist, by Geri Reid Article: https://lnkd.in/ef8-Yy9E PDF: https://lnkd.in/e9Z2G2kF WCAG 2.2 Guidelines: https://lnkd.in/eYmzrNh7 Accessibility isn’t about compliance. It’s not about ticking off checkboxes. And it’s not about plugging in accessibility overlays or AI engines either. It’s about *designing* with a wide range of people in mind — from the very start, independent of their skills and preferences. In my experience, the most impactful way to embed accessibility in your work is to bring a handful of people with different needs early into design process and usability testing. It’s making these test sessions accessible to the entire team, and showing real impact of design and code on real people using a real product. Teams usually don’t get time to work on features which don’t have a clear business case. But no manager really wants to be seen publicly ignoring their prospect customers. Visualize accessibility to everyone on the team and try to make an argument about potential reach and potential income. Don’t ask for big commitments: embed accessibility in your work by default. Account for accessibility needs in your estimates. Create accessibility tickets and flag accessibility issues. Don’t mistake smiling and nodding for support — establish timelines, roles, specifics, objectives. And most importantly: measure the impact of your work by repeatedly conducting accessibility testing with real people. Build a strong before/after case to show the change that the team has enabled and contributed to, and celebrate small and big accessibility wins. It might not sound like much, but it can start changing the culture faster than you think. Useful resources: Giving A Damn About Accessibility, by Sheri Byrne-Haber (disabled) https://lnkd.in/eCeFutuJ Accessibility For Designers: Where Do I Start?, by Stéphanie Walter https://lnkd.in/ecG5qASY Web Accessibility In Plain Language (Free Book), by Charlie Triplett https://lnkd.in/e2AMAwyt Building Accessibility Research Practices, by Maya Alvarado https://lnkd.in/eq_3zSPJ How To Build A Strong Case For Accessibility, ↳ https://lnkd.in/ehGivAdY, by 🦞 Todd Libby ↳ https://lnkd.in/eC4jehMX, by Yichan Wang #ux #accessibility

We design for the average. The average doesn’t exist. April is Autism Acceptance Month. Designing for autism is about building products that work for everyone. Cognitive overload affects everyone. Your brain has limits, and more noise can affect how you perceive things. For some autistic users, this is constant and amplified. Many rely on digital products to navigate daily life. Yet most interfaces ignore them. So what happens? We design experiences that overwhelm the people who need them most. And if your product overwhelms autistic users, it’s exhausting everyone else. Here are 5 principles to get you started: 1. Consistent Structure Keep navigation, layout, and UI patterns identical across your entire product. Why: Sudden changes cause anxiety and disorientation. Example: Shopping cart stays in the top-right corner across every page. 2. Literal Communication Use plain, direct language. Skip idioms and metaphors. Why: Vague language requires guessing and creates confusion Example: "Your payment was declined. Check your card number and try again." 3. Sensory Calm Use muted, natural colours. Avoid pure black/white and bright contrasts. Why: Extreme contrast and bright colours cause sensory overload Example: Dashboard with soft beige background, dark grey text, and 3-4 clearly separated sections 4. User Control Default to sound off. Allow people to pause, stop, or disable animations. Why: Sensory needs vary greatly, and customization prevents overload. Example: Toggles for reduced motion, dark mode, font size, and autoplay off by default. 5. Predictable Interactions Provide clear feedback and progress indicators so users always know where they are. Why: Unexpected interruptions trigger anxiety and break focus. Example: Multi-step form shows "Step 2 of 4" with a progress bar, confirms "Your information was saved" after each step. Better design starts with understanding. 👇🏽What would you add to this list? 🔖 Save this for reference ♻️ Share it with your team ---- ✉️ Subscribe for more accessibility and design insights: https://lnkd.in/gZpAzWSu ---- Accessibility note: This infographic, titled Designing for Autism has the same content as the post. It also includes alt text.

Dear friends, please stop tagging me in inaccessible posts. I really appreciate it when you think of me, but please think about accessibility first. I’m talking about content which has: 1. PDFs which aren't accessible, no headings structure or tags. 2. Posts drowning in emojis or emojis being used as bullet points. 3. Graphics with text that have insufficient colour contrast. 4. Images without alt text or image descriptions 5. Posts where the text has been manipulated or changed by a third-party font generator Tagging me in that stuff doesn’t include me. It just adds another barrier, and trust me, I deal with enough of those daily. Accessibility isn’t an extra. It’s the difference between me being part of the conversation or being shut out of it. If you want me to engage, make your content accessible please. Let's be mindful of our content and who we are tagging. 🙏 #FridayFeeling #DisabledBySociety #Content #Accessibility

My top inclusion tip? Offer flexibility. It sounds simple, but it's a very powerful best practice. Here's why. I'm blind with 5% of my vision remaining, and I've advocated for high color contrast for years as an accessibility best practice. An example of high color contrast is a black background with white text on top or a white background with black text on top. I learned about high color contrast in the field, and it's an accessibility standard. Then I found out about Irlen Syndrome from comments on my social media. I learned that high color contrast (especially a white background with black text on top) doesn't work for those with Irlen Syndrome. This blew my mind. I also heard from my community that some people preferred a color combination that I advised against: a pale pink background with white text. This all served as a reminder that no one best practice works for everyone. Implementing flexible options is the best way to improve inclusion and accessibility. This applies to anything we do as individuals or organizations. Communicating information? Try to share it in multiple ways, such as written, verbal, and visually in a diagram. Designing a social event? Create different zones with lower lighting and brighter lighting, areas without speakers, different types of seating, and a range of activities. Leading a virtual training? Allow participants to participate in multiple ways such as using the raise hand button, typing in the chat, unmuting (at specified facilitator-led moments), and more. What are your thoughts on this? Does this resonate? #Inclusion #Accessibility #Disability

Do you use emojis instead of bullet points? Do you post a photo but forget to describe it? Maybe you love creating images where there is text over a photo... If you're doing any of these things, your communication is not as accessible as you might think. And as today is International Day of People with a Disability, it's a great time to reflect on our own accessible communication practices. The good news is that there are plenty of resources out there to help, like the brilliant Kelly Thibodeau, CUA, CPACC, and Matisse Hamel-Nelis, ADS, CPACC and Lisa Riemers' brand-new, amazingly helpful book, 'Accessible Communication: Create impact, avoid missteps, and build trust.' While you're getting your hands on a copy, here's five of my top tips to get you on the right track, especially if you're communicating through digital channels like social media. 1. Avoid emojis and emoticons. If a person uses a screen reader, these are very annoying! Also, they don't convey the same meaning for everyone. Use them sparingly, and at the end of a sentence if at all. 2. Include alt text and descriptions of your images. It's great for screen readers, great for SEO, and also just helpful for people to better understand the message the image is conveying. 3. Use colours with strong contrast. People with poor vision or visual processing can struggle to decipher text in different colours. Black on white is always a winner. There are great tools and guidelines out there to help assess your colour use. 4. Use short sentences and clear, common words. It's not just for accessibility ... it's just better for everyone! 5. Always include captions and transcripts for video and audio. People consume information in different ways and contexts anyway, and some people need a transcript to give them more time to process the messages. What else would you add to the list? [Image description: pale green tile with black text. The headline reads: Top tips for accessible communication, and lists the five points in this post. The logo for Cuttlefish, Mel's business, is on the right-hand side in black, all-caps text.]

Meaningful networking begins when we create space for authenticity. Here’s why 😮💨 For years, I found traditional networking exhausting - loud rooms, endless small talk, and unspoken rules that rewarded being an extrovert over authenticity. As someone who is neurodivergent, those spaces often drained me instead of inspiring me. To the point I used to think I wasn’t *good* at networking, when really, the environments just weren’t designed for me. But everything shifted when I started to see networking as a means of connection and curiosity. ✨ It stopped being about performance. ✨ It started being about people. Now, I focus on building spaces where everyone - especially neurodivergent professionals - can connect meaningfully and on their own terms. Here are 7 ways to make networking more inclusive: 1️⃣ Redefine networking – small, structured sessions over chaos. 2️⃣ Prioritise accessibility – share agendas, quiet zones, and clear visuals. 3️⃣ Use digital platforms – let people process and reply in their own time. 4️⃣ Create mentorship networks – match on goals, not personality. 5️⃣ Train leaders – awareness drives inclusion. 6️⃣ Celebrate communication styles – write, pause, reflect, speak. 7️⃣ Redefine success – quality over quantity (the 3–2–1 rule). Because when we design networking experiences that value neurodiversity, we don’t just make them inclusive ... we make them more creative, innovative, and human. At LMF NETWORK (Like Minded Females), these strategies have helped 100,000+ globally across 24 countries grow confidence, connection, and community through inclusive workshops, mentoring, and real conversations that make a difference. Now, it can help you too! --------------------------- If you want to create more inclusive, empowering spaces for your teams or events, let’s connect! 👋 📧 Hello@sonyabarlow.co.uk 🌎 www.sonyabarlow.co.uk #Neurodiversity #ADHD #BusinessNetworking #HumanConnection #Inclusion #Leadership #KeynoteSpeaker #WomenInBusiness #ADHDinbusiness #CareerGrowth #ADHDAwarenessMonth

Worried about making accessibility changes causing pushback? Here’s why: You’re focusing on bare minimum compliance rather than creating true inclusivity. Try this instead: ● Conduct regular accessibility audits to identify barriers ● Collaborate directly with people with disabilities for authentic feedback ● Implement changes that go beyond compliance to enhance usability for all Do this consistently. Become obsessed with the process and applying it. ● Study accessible design principles and stay updated ● Share what you’ve learned with your team and network ● Help other organizations understand how to implement meaningful accessibility practices No matter the industry, the lesson remains the same: accessibility isn’t a box to check; it’s a commitment to making everyone feel valued and included.

Inclusive design is not just about the font you choose. It is about how your content behaves when it meets a different nervous system. Last week, we pruned your typography. This week, we are looking at the soil. We are auditing your media and structure. In our rush for "engagement," corporate communications often rely on visual shortcuts like flashing GIFs, color-coded alerts, and walls of emojis. Marketing calls these "hacks." I call them Barriers. When you rely on a color change to signal "danger," you lock out the colorblind. When you replace words with a string of emojis, you create chaos for a screen reader user (hearing "Face with tears of joy" five times in a row). When you post a video without captions, you tell the Deaf and Auditory Processing communities that they are not your audience. Accessibility is not a "feature" for a minority group. It is an indicator of Organizational Health. If your content requires perfect vision, perfect hearing, and neurotypical processing speed to understand... your content is flawed. Below is The Inclusive Content Audit (Part 2). We moved beyond fonts to look at media, structure, and interaction. Here are 9 Ways to Operationalize Inclusion in your content: 1. The Emoji Restraint ❌ Barrier: Emojis read aloud via screen readers as clunky descriptions. ✅ Fix: Use clear words to convey tone. Keep emojis at the end of sentences rather than in the middle. 2. The Caption Mandate ❌ Barrier: Audio/Video posted "naked." ✅ Fix: Burned-in open captions. (This helps ADHD brains like mine focus just as much as it helps Deaf users). 3. The Contrast Rule ❌ Barrier: Text over busy, semi-transparent backgrounds. ✅ Fix: Solid color backgrounds behind text blocks to reduce visual noise. 4. The "Color + Shape" Rule ❌ Barrier: Using only color to convey meaning (e.g., Red = Error). ✅ Fix: Pair color with a distinct shape or icon label. 5. The Alt-Text Discipline ❌ Barrier: Images with file names like "IMG_5920.jpg". ✅ Fix: Descriptive, concise Alternative Text. 6. The Header Hierarchy ❌ Barrier: Manually bolding text to look like a header. ✅ Fix: Using actual "Heading Styles" (H1, H2) so screen readers can navigate the structure. 7. The Motion Control ❌ Barrier: Auto-playing GIFs or flashing content. ✅ Fix: Static images or user-controlled "Play" buttons. (Protect your team from vestibular triggers). 8. The Data Summary ❌ Barrier: Complex charts with no text explanation. ✅ Fix: A simple text summary beneath the visual. 9. The Permanent Label ❌ Barrier: Form field labels that disappear once you start typing. ✅ Fix: Labels that remain visible above the field. (Reduces cognitive load and working memory strain). The Verdict: Low-friction content is high-impact content. Stop making your audience fight your design to get to your message. #Accessibility #InclusiveDesign #WCAG #Neurodiversity #Leadership #ClinicalStrategy