Why does accessibility matter, and what basic things do you check in your designs?

What the interviewer wants to hear

• Many people have permanent, temporary or situational disabilities
• Legal requirements and wider market reach
• Checks: contrast, text size, focus states, keyboard use
• Labels, alt text, not using colour alone, target size

Model answer

Accessibility matters because a large share of people have a disability, and many more have temporary or situational limits, like a broken arm or bright sunlight on a phone screen. Accessible design is also required by law in many places and simply reaches more customers. In my designs I check colour contrast against WCAG AA, which is 4.5 to 1 for normal text. I make sure focus states are visible and that every action works with a keyboard. I never use colour alone to show meaning, I give form fields real visible labels, and I write alt text guidance for images. I keep tap targets large enough and support text resizing. I also test key flows with a screen reader, because checklists alone do not catch everything.

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