Accessible Creative Is Just Better Creative
Alt text gets all the credit. And look, alt text matters. But if that's where the accessibility conversation starts and stops for your brand, there's a lot being left on the table.
Accessible content is not simply a compliance checklist, but rather a creative standard. And when it's built into the process from the beginning, the work gets better for everyone.
Here's what it actually looks like across copy and design.
The accessibility misconception worth addressing
Most brands treat accessibility as a technical fix. Something for the dev team to handle, or a box to check before something goes live. The result is content that technically meets a minimum bar but still excludes huge portions of an audience.
We’re talking about issues like the copy being full of jargon. The fonts are beautiful but tiny. The color contrast looks great on a designer's monitor but disappears on a phone screen in sunlight. The social graphic has no caption, so anyone watching on mute gets nothing.
Rather than being edge cases, or in the minority, these are everyday experiences for a massive chunk of your audience. But without knowing what accessible copy actually looks like, how could you fix it?
What accessible copy actually looks like
Accessibility in copy is not about dumbing things down or losing your spark of creative design. It's about being clear on purpose.
A few things that make a real difference:
Write for a 7th to 8th grade reading level: This is not about your audience being unsophisticated. It's about reducing friction. Clear, direct writing converts better and reaches more people.
Break up walls of text: Short paragraphs, clear and relevant headers, and breathing room between text are not just design preferences. Instead, they make content readable for people with dyslexia, ADHD, and cognitive differences.
Watch your idioms and jargon: Phrases that feel natural to your industry can completely shut out someone newer to the space, a non-native English speaker, or someone reading quickly on a phone.
Write descriptive link text: "Click here" tells a screen reader user nothing. "Read our guide to accessible content" tells them exactly where they're going.
Caption everything: Videos, reels, stories. Always. Not just for deaf or hard of hearing audiences, but for anyone watching without sound, which is most people on social media.
What accessible design looks like
Think your brand looks amazing? It very well could, but at the same time, it could be creating a massive accessibility issue.
Color contrast is non-negotiable: Text needs to meet a minimum contrast ratio against its background to be legible for people with low vision or color blindness. The WCAG standard is 4.5:1 for normal text. If the palette does not pass, it needs to be adjusted, not worked around.
Font size and weight matter more than you think: Decorative fonts at small sizes are a common culprit. If the copy is important enough to include, it should be readable without effort.
Do not put text on busy backgrounds: A semi-transparent overlay is not a solution. If the text is hard to read, the design needs to change.
Design for mobile first, always: A layout that works on a large screen can completely fall apart on a phone. Most of your audience is on mobile. Design there first.
Use more than color alone to communicate meaning: Color is not a universal language. Around 300 million people worldwide have some form of color blindness, and that does not even account for screens that display color differently, low vision, or just bad lighting on a phone. If a graphic only makes sense because of a color distinction, it does not make sense to everyone. Labels, patterns, icons, and clear contrast are what close that gap.
Why accessible copy and design make your work better
Here's the thing nobody talks about enough. Every single accessibility principle listed above makes content better for everyone, full stop.
Captions boost watch time across the board, not just for deaf or hard of hearing viewers. Clear, jargon-free copy converts better with every audience. High contrast design is easier on anyone's eyes, not just someone with low vision. Readable fonts feel more trustworthy. Shorter paragraphs keep more people reading.
Accessible creative is just... better creative. The brands that figure this out early stop treating it like an obligation and start treating it like a competitive advantage. Because when the work is built to reach more people more clearly, it tends to actually do that.
How Lyons Creative is here to help
Every project we do includes a lens for accessibility across both copy and design. Not at the end, not as a review note, but from the first brief. Because content that reaches more people, more clearly, is always the stronger creative choice.
That standard does not bend. And the work is better for it. Want to talk about what that looks like for your brand? Get in touch with Lyons Creative today.
Written by Kourtey Borman