Role : UX Designer
Year : 2022
Timeline : 2 months
Web Design, User Research, Prototyping
Challenge
Equally AI, a company committed to improving web accessibility, offers a widget that helps client websites meet WCAG and ADA compliance standards. However, the existing widget faced significant usability challenges and low user engagement. My role was to audit its functionality and redesign it to better serve current users while accommodating future needs.
The research, covering stakeholder conversations, user feedback and usability tests, identified the major issues causing disinterest and frustration. The interface was cluttered and overwhelming, with a long vertical layout that made navigation difficult. Essential settings were often hidden under unassuming category names, further frustrating users when trying to make changes.
Additionally, users were frustrated by the lack of control and visibility of the disability profiles. They wanted more flexibility to customise settings to their needs. All of this feedback drove our redesign with a focus on decluttering, improving accessibility, and adding customisation options to enhance the user experience.
Design Process
Streamlining the user flow was key to helping users perform tasks quickly with minimal friction. Our approach focused on making the widget adjustments less intrusive and allowed users to focus on browsing.
The redesign also provided an opportunity to align the widget with Equally's updated brand. By incorporating higher contrast colours, and clear and legible typography. we would improve the widget's design making it consistent and accessible
To make the widget more intuitive, I introduced a tab menu to separate granular adjustments from profiles, reducing the number of visible settings at once and improving navigation.
Additionally, we refined the categories based on how users naturally grouped them, minimising cognitive load and allowing users to focus more effectively on their tasks.
To improve user flexibility, I replaced rigid profiles with customisable profiles with default presets that allowed users to adjust settings to their specific needs giving them more control over their experience which would default across all websites they visit.
The redesigned widget exceeded expectations, achieving a 26% increase in user satisfaction and a 60% reduction in navigation time for customizations. Streamlined navigation and simplified settings made the widget more intuitive and user-friendly, driving increased engagement as clients reported more frequent use on their websites.
The modern design also strengthened Equally.ai’s brand identity, reinforcing its commitment to accessibility. This resonated with both users and stakeholders, solidifying the widget’s role as a key tool for improving web accessibility.