Accessibility principles

If you create University-branded materials, it’s your responsibility to make sure they’re accessible to as many people as possible. This isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s a legal obligation we’re all responsible for.

Under the Equality Act 2010, public sector bodies must make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to make sure disabled people are not disadvantaged. This includes access to any print and digital information provided by the University. Under the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Apps) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations, it’s also a legal requirement for our website to be accessible to Level AA of the internationally recognised Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Accessibility is not an afterthought; it should be inherent in the concept and design of any University-branded materials. Trying to make something accessible at the end of the process is much more difficult to do and rarely works.

This is not a complete guide to using the University brand. It is a summary of ways to make your University-branded materials accessible, including recommendations from the AbilityNet assessment. For the full guidance, refer to the Brand guidelines page of the Brand portal and the University’s digital accessibility guidance.

• Don’t include too much text on a page
• Use headings to add structure to content
• Make your content brief and to the point
• Use words that are easy to understand
• Use the active voice
• Include a clear and explicit call to action (CTA) where you expect someone to take action

• Make sure the logo contrasts with background colours and is clearly visible, particularly when used over images
• Make sure the logo is large enough for the channel or format so it’s easy to see and understand

• Only use Kensington for headings, not for longer text
• Use DM Sans as the primary font for body text and longer messages
• When the brand fonts aren’t available, for example, in PowerPoint, use Tahoma for headings and Arial for body text

• Use soft, light background colours to improve readability and visual comfort
• Make sure all colour combinations, including text and backgrounds, meet WCAG 2.2 AA contrast requirements

Use lines or panels between sections to separate information, not across content.

• Make sure all informative and functional images, charts, and graphs on digital channels have a text alternative
• Don’t put text over images – use plain background colours instead
• Make sure all colours for images, charts, and graphs meet WCAG 2.2 AA contrast requirements
• Don’t rely on colour alone to convey meaning – people who can’t distinguish between certain colours must be able to understand the image or data

• Use a clear visual hierarchy, predictable grids, and consistent spacing to help people scan and orient themselves on a page
• Limit the number of competing elements on a page to avoid clutter
• Place headings in conventional, predictable positions
• Use lines or panels between sections to separate information, not across content
• Make CTAs visually distinct without relying on colour alone and position them consistently and predictably

The UK government’s Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Apps) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations make it a legal requirement for the University to make our websites accessible to Level AA of the internationally recognised Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

The Government Digital Service (GDS) assesses the accessibility of public bodies’ websites, like ours, as defined by the WCAG guidelines.

The University’s website publishing platform, Typecase, has been designed to make it easy to create accessible web pages for our site. However, even if you don’t create or review web content, it’s important you know how to make all digital communication and information is as accessible as possible. This includes:

• teaching materials
• research documents
• social media and blog posts
• digital documents
• video and audio