Accessible Marketing Checklist

ON A DIGITAL DISPLAY

• Stand in the area where the monitor, TV, or screen is housed. Step as close to the display then as far away as possible. Note the possible environmental factors – poor screen quality, bright sunlight, non-ideal viewing location, fluorescent lighting. Adjust your design accordingly. If one file will be used in multiple locations, design for the poorest conditions.  
• Use understandable and inclusive language
• Test the color contrast of all foreground/background pairs.
• Use large, readable fonts – KSU brand fonts (National, Roboto, Source Sans) Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Century Gothic, Trebuchet, Calibri, Open Sans. Choose sans fonts whenever possible.
• Helvetica, Courier, Arial, and Verdana have tested better with those with dyslexia. 

ON SOCIAL MEDIA

• Primarily viewed on mobile device, so keep graphic text to a minimum.
• Design in small chunks of image/text so that it responds well on different sized screens.
• Use UNDERSTANDABLE and inclusive language
• Test the color contrast of all foreground/background pairs.
• Add all pertinent information to the post itself rather than only on the graphic.
• Add descriptive alt-text
• Limit EMOJI and HASHTAG use and put at the end of posts.
• Use Camel Case for hashtags: #KentStateUniversity
• Do not create custom post fonts with Unicode.

IN DIGITAL CATALOGS OR COLLECTIONS

• Avoid “flipbooks” whenever possible. They are inherently inaccessible, especially ISSUU.
• If unavoidable, link to an accessible version. Whatever the user experience is with a flipbook should be matched in the accessible version. (Often a source pdf/indesign file is uploaded to create the flipbook – simply make that source document accessible and available.)
• Make sure images resize and respond appropriately on different sized devices and displays.

FOR A LIVE EVENT

• Choose university-contracted platforms such as Microsoft Teams or Canvas to ensure strong accessibility.
• Enable live captioning on your end. Test all technological functionality beforehand if a human captioner is used.
• Schedule an ASL interpreter for large-scale and/or public events.
• Draw attention to captioning and/or interpreting at the beginning of the event and use that time to promote accessibility. Direct users to the “Accessibility” link in any KSU website footer to report an accessibility concern.
• Provide an edited/corrected transcript as soon as possible after the event.
• Share only accessible slide presentations.

RECORDED VIDEO

• Choose university-contracted platforms such as Microsoft Teams or Canvas to ensure strong accessibility.
• Enable live captioning within the recording platform. Test all technological functionality beforehand if a human captioner is used.
• Draw attention to captioning/interpreting at the beginning of the event and use that time to promote accessibility.
• Provide an edited/corrected transcript
• Share only accessible slide presentations.

ON SOCIAL MEDIA

• Primarily viewed on mobile device, so zoom in on faces and keep text large and readable.
• Think carefully about how to best caption. Set high captioning standards for your department.
• Make sure pause/stop/volume/caption controls are visible and usable. Do not use platforms which cannot meet this requirement.
• If content is informative in nature, add a link to the transcript at the end of the post. (Or add to bio/link tree for Instagram)

BLOGS, NEWSLETTERS, ARTICLES & EMAILS

• Use large, readable fonts – KSU brand fonts (National, Roboto, Source Sans, Soho) Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Century Gothic, Trebuchet, Calibri, Open Sans. Choose sans fonts whenever possible.
• Organize your content using HEADING STYLES not merely with bold/underline formatting
• Use the bullet/numbers option in the toolbar rather than tabbing to indent or list. Bullets if no ranking/order.
• Add image alt-text (or mark “decorative”).
• Work diligently to reduce word count. Use clear, simple language that is inclusive.
• Avoid industry jargon, abbreviations, acronymns
• Make sure content is easily scannable visually: plenty of white space, solid organization and padding around images. Left align rather than justified.
• Name hyperlinks carefully. Descriptive but not tediously long. Consider a button rather than a link when possible.
• Do not send image-only emails. All text should be in the paragraph/body and use page structure.

POLLS/SURVEYS

• Only use platforms that have strong accessibility features. Microsoft and Google forms are widely recognized as accessible. Qualtrics requires careful choice of features and customization of some default features before it is strong accessibly.
• Construct your form to only display vertically – in one long column or in one column spread among several screens. Do not have questions extend “below the fold”.
• Questions that require physically moving a slider or dragging and dropping an answer are largely inaccessible.
• Do not set time limits for answers and do not enable automatic logging off after a short duration.
• Display a progress indicator at all times.
• Have both a “previous”/”back” button as well as a “next”/”continue” button on each screen. Do not have only arrows as indicators. Always display a way out for the user.