Use well-known design patterns or conventions to help build awareness and familiarity.
Unfamiliar and inconsistent patterns, conventions, layouts, or navigation options can make it difficult for people with visual, cognitive, or learning disabilities to understand the email content and interact with it entirely.
Consistent design, colour, typography, and language make it easier for people to use visual cues to find information relevant to them and helps build familiarity with a brand or organisation.
Practices
- Use formatting options: Using simple formatting techniques allows people to scan and read more easily:
- Use headings to separate and provide a title for each section of the email. Ensure there is a heading (h1) in the email that conveys the email’s central message.
- Use paragraphs to begin new ideas or points and help break up the content.
- Use numbered and bulleted lists for content with a specific order or related themes.
- Ensure line spacing is at least 150% of the text size to allow the content to breathe and help people read more effectively.
- Left-align text: Use left-aligned text as it helps people understand where each line starts and ends so they can keep their place in the text. Left-aligned text is beneficial for people with Dyslexia but is also more accessible and more comfortable for everyone to read. Avoid the use of justified or centred text, as this forces people to work harder to find the beginning of each line to read it.
- Use legible fonts: Use fonts that are easy to read and widely available on different platforms, such as Helvetica, Arial, or a default sans-serif font.
- Avoid using the Nationwide font Cabernet in emails, as people with Dyslexia may find it difficult to read content formatted using this font.
- Make links obvious: Ensure that links or buttons within emails appear visually distinct from the regular text by using an underline so that people understand which areas are interactive and which are not.
- Use clear and concise calls to action: Ensure that links and buttons use clear and concise phrases. Calls to action must provide context by accurately describing where the links will lead or the button’s action. Avoid phrases such as ‘click here’ and ‘read more’, as these do not provide sufficient context.