As accessibility standards can improve visual chart design

Availability for data visualization is much exceeding web standards if we try to create a useful experience. Over the last three years, Kent's working group has studied Google's studies for the creation of useful and available visualizations that have much exceeded the requirements. When discussing with designers throughout the industry, they found two specific requirements: diagrams and double encoding or using something other than color to transmit value.

Data visualizations are graphs that use our visual system and congenital ability to collect, accumulate and process information in our environment. As a result, we quickly detect trends, templates and emissions in all the images we see.

Visualizations usually serve a wide range of cases and can be quite complicated. Much attention is paid to the choice of the right codes for presenting each metric. Designers and engineers use colors to pay attention to more important metrics or information and emissions.

🚀 People with visual disorders face problems when using visualizations. In particular, about 300 million people in the world have problems with color vision, and it is a condition that affects 1 of 12 men. Most people with these states do not use auxiliary technologies when viewing data. Therefore, the visual design of the chart must meet their needs.

💡 Web standards can help us improve our design. In this case, the accessibility management (WCAG) content will provide the most complete set of requirements for start. Management requires two taking into account. First, all colors should reach the proper contrast ratio with their adjacent elements. Secondly, visualization requires the use of something other than color, to transmit meaning. This can be done by including second encoding or adding text, images, icons or patterns.

• 📌 Accessibility for visualization of data is much higher than web standards
• 📌 Data visualization are graphs that use our visual system
• 📌 WCAG standards help improve design
• 📌 It is important to take into account the needs of people with visual violations