Sept 15, 2023

Stepping into Consistency by Naveesha Maharaj and Phillip Fernandez

Naveesha Maharaj, Phillip Fernandez

Opening slide: Stepping into Consistency

About this video

Description

All designers can put designs together, but can all designers design to meet the needs of all users? Being able to foresee the expectations of all abilities is what makes an inclusive and diverse design, whether on a website or mobile site or even on a document. Working to build a digital environment that consists of directional components to not just help users enter an experience, but to fully comprehend how to navigate all of its surroundings, return back to where they commenced and jump to areas of interest, all with effortless keystrokes. Making the unpredictable predictably compliant is what we have to offer. This concept, with an added discussion on how to appropriately understand your target audience and the design capabilities for that audience, will create an in-depth understanding of why stepping into a consistent design will not just build an accessible experience but a usable and attractive experience. This presentation will provide considerations, methods and solutions to assist in creating that approachable design while allowing you to approach us with some of your obstacles and challenges.

Questions? Email programs@rgd.ca

Naveesha Maharaj

Naveesha Maharaj has been a Senior Accessibility Consultant for over 13 years working with organizations such as Deque, Canada Life, The Carrol Center for the Blind, Ogilvy, Brightworks and many more. Skilled heavily on web, mobile native and PDF accessibility, ensuring clients are producing not only compliant content but usable as well. Prior to moving into the consulting realm, she worked as a Web Accessibility Analyst at TD and as an Accessibility Systems Testing/QA Specialist at the Ministry of Community and Social Services Children, Youth and Social Services I&IT Cluster testing internal and external sites against WCAG 2.0 standards. Technical writing, presentations, remediation, assessments and training were and are still a large part of her daily activities. She was an active member of the Accessibility Consulting team at CNIB focusing on internal and external AODA. With just under 10 years experience, no one knows the benefits of cross-functional work better than UX Designer

Phillip Fernandez

Phillip (Phil) Fernandez works with multiple teams internally, from account to creative to engineering and more, to bring our clients' digital programs to life. Phil embeds with other disciplines to helps UX designers develop and design a better product suitable for every team involved in the process. By understanding the needs of every team, he is able to not only save time and increase efficiency, but also leverage different perspectives to craft new solutions.