Inclusive Design

Role: Accessibility‑Focused Designer | AODA‑Compliant Design Lead (CAN)

Challenge
In Ontario, marketing materials published online must comply with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). Organizations are required to ensure digital content meets accessibility standards, such as WCAG 2.1 Level AA, and to provide marketing and promotional materials in accessible formats upon request.

To support this mandate, Invesco’s Brand team established a group of ADA and AODA ambassadors who received specialized training to champion accessibility best practices.

Role and Process
Alongside other senior members of the design team, I helped lead a series of training sessions for global design partners, guiding them through the proper remediation of documents to ensure compatibility with assistive technologies and consistent adherence to accessibility standards.

In my day to day design process with an accessibility first mindset, I applied a consistent, accessibility‑first design to ensure all digital marketing materials met WCAG standards and Color Blindness Accessibility without compromising creative quality:

• Clear content hierarchy
  Structured copy using logical heading levels, consistent typography, proper tagging, manually enter alternative to improve scannability and screen‑reader navigation, especially within complex infographics.

• Colour contrast
  Colour contrast was applied using Invesco brand colours in a defined sequence that meets WCAG 2.1 AA contrast requirements, ensuring clear readability across devices and for users with low vision or colour blindness.

• Proper tagging & structure
  Applied tagging, reading order, and alt text to ensure compatibility with assistive technologies such as screen readers.

• Review & remediation
  Audited existing assets to identify issues related to colour contrast, text legibility, hierarchy, and document structure, then remediated accordingly.

• Testing & validation
  Tested assets using Adobe Acrobat’s accessibility checker and manual checks to confirm compliance and usability before final delivery.

Results
The final materials were fully AODA‑compliant, inclusive, and accessible while maintaining brand consistency and visual impact. These improvements enhanced usability for a broader audience, reduced accessibility risks, and ensured marketing assets could be confidently distributed across digital channels with compliance standards met from the outset.