Expert Q&A

You can tell there’s something different about Chris Lona’s website designs from the moment you open the site. They are simple, well-organized and engaging. One huge point of difference in his design is that he creates websites that can talk to you—but just saying that would be underselling his work. TravelAbility Insider got the chance to talk with him about the web design he has done for companies including Brand USA and the University of Massachusetts, creating cross-platform designs that everyone can use, including people with visual, hearing, mobility and cognitive challenges. “When Brand USA launched its Great Outdoors initiatives in 2016, the organization wanted to ensure it would be able to extend its invitation to the world to visit the USA with an inclusive and welcoming message. To accomplish that Brand USA worked with CL Design to design an accessible Outdoor USA subsection on its consumer website. This included “talking” (audio) instructions that would literally speak to people who have disabilities that might affect their ability to navigate information online,” said Anne Madison, former chief strategy & communications officer for Brand USA.

Many businesses have initiated re-designs because of changes made last December According to a story in the Los Angeles Times, the agency that governs ADA laws announced it was withdrawing its rulemaking process as the Trump administration was calling for a rollback of federal regulations. The consequences of the deregulation: a maelstrom of lawsuits on behalf of people with disabilities, many of whom are frustrated by businesses’ lack of compliance with ADA law. But how are businesses responding? Who is responsible for the 30% growth of the lawsuits in a single year? And how exactly does a business ensure its website is ADA compliant? Answering those questions can be time-consuming and costly.  Here’s what Chris Lona had to say: 

DB: How did you get interested in accessible web design?

CL: When I was a student, I started having double vision and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Treatment was successful but left me with an autoimmune condition and long-term vision problems. I  was in the last year of a five-year architectural degree program and while my colleagues were gearing up to intern, I was undergoing spinal taps and radiation treatment. Instead of returning to architecture, I became interested in web design. I think of web design and accessibility as very similar to architecture—I find structural solutions and create beautiful products using universal design which is another way of saying design created with truly everyone in mind. Plus, having recently been through the whole tumor issue, I think, gave me a new perspective on accessibility. CL Design, my business based in Bellevue, Washington, focuses on inclusive web accessibility and strategic branding design.    

DB: What does inclusivity mean to you? Is it different than accessibility? Maybe you are hoping to achieve both.

CL: Inclusivity incorporates accessibility. And yes achieving both is one of many objectives. I call my designs the “curb cuts of the web” because one of the main objectives is to create a sort of invisible accessibility where people just use it because it works. Curb cuts were designed for people who use wheelchairs but are enjoyed by people on bikes, pushing strollers, using a hand truck, using crutches and so on. So, extrapolating that model to the web, I prefer to design and include better, accessible web experiences for everyone from the ground up instead of fixing the problem of compliance with web accessibility regulations and guidelines such as the ADA, Section 508, and WCAG as an afterthought to development. The websites I create accommodate people with visual, hearing, mobility and cognitive challenges. But of course, anyone can benefit from the choice of human audio narration, captions/text, one keypress (or touch) navigation and more effective communication that comes with the combination of audio, text, and images.

DB: Many businesses revising their websites to be ADA compliant are doing so begrudgingly, honestly, because it can be a costly time consuming and disruptive process. Travel destinations and suppliers have sites with hundreds of pages others are small businesses such as boutique hotels.  How do you simplify the process?

CL: My work is based around a simple philosophy—treat people like people and offer them the best experience possible. Ultimately, web design is about customer service. A website may be the first time that consumers (one in 5 of whom have a disability of some kind) come in contact with your business. It’s my belief that becoming as accessible as possible can align with ROI. That said, even making small changes can be much more than compliance. No one says an organization has to make their entire site accessible at one time; in fact, we often suggest pilot projects for a specific area that may be of a higher priority. Usually, I suggest the features of a destination itself.  It is an investment in future travelers who do much of their buying and travel research online. 

DB: How do you incorporate accessible designs into clients’ websites?

CL: Happy to explain it. Incorporating inclusive web accessibility (IWA)  into clients’ websites is designed to be virtually effortless. A simple graphic or icon is provided to the client. It may say something like “Experience Our Talking Website”. Their IT department or consultant can then show them how to place it into their existing site and link it to the web address we provide at sitellites.com—our special domain for inclusive web accessibility presentations. When a visitor clicks (or touches) the graphic/icon on the existing site, they are directed to our presentation.

If a client wishes to deploy our accessible site under their domain, we can provide all of the files required for them to do so. Simple updates like a change of address are often done as a courtesy. Since most DMOs and CVBs are not specialists in accessible web design, we are happy to make more extensive updates within their budget which frees them up to do what they do best. Training in how to make updates themselves is also possible. The results of adding IWA to an existing site removes barriers for the organization and for their customers. For organizations, the extra time and web infrastructure tacked on as an afterthought to their existing site for less-than-optimal accessibility is removed. And since no assistive technology is required for their customers to use IWA presentations, the barriers of acquiring, learning and using it is removed. It is an accessible experience for all.

DB: Without getting too technical, can you explain what Lona Design includes and how programmers use it? 

CL: Sure, here’s how I explain it to potential clients: Inclusive web accessibility isn’t intended to replace your existing design tools, but to augment it. Current design tools are extremely powerful when it comes to creating and iterating on new ideas. However, after new ideas have been designed, they need to be stress-tested on different screen sizes and with real data. They then need to be translated into UI code. This is where Lona shines. It is a single design system that encodes all of the data. The design system ensures cross-platform consistency (in other words, it works across web, iOS, and Android platforms). Other design files require manual translation into code for each different platform—this price is time-consuming and error-prone. 

DB: Where can people see examples of web accessibility. This may help businesses just beginning on this journey. 
CL: To learn more about inclusive web accessibility visit cldesign.co/iwa 
To see examples of my work, visit CL Design (cldesign.co).
See a recent project designed for the Blue Badge Access Awards at sitellites.com/bbaa. (The augmented site is bluebadgeaccessawards.com.)
A project related to our work with Brand USA is at www.accesstheusa.online. It features inclusive web accessibility presentations for all 50 states.

Chris Lona will be speaking at TravelAbility Summit and is available earlier if an attendee would like to reach out with suggestions, comments or questions. For more coverage of liability and ADA compliance, see our archived posts, which describes how the public has come to depend on websites to do everything from book a hotel room to update their flight plans and the effect of the rollback of federal regulations.