Working in accessibility is fraught with systematic challenges. Taking a pause, what is the complete opposite?
While accessibility promotes inclusion, what would an exclusive, discriminatory, unattainable website look like? How would it function? Who is its intended audience? Which people would it exclude?
When I ask myself this question, I think of luxury fashion or luxury items. Luxury is exclusive by design; not everyone can afford it and it’s purposely not created for everyone.
When I think about exclusive websites, I envision the kind that win awards. The award website I’m thinking of often requires an entry fee, making it even more discriminatory. What are the defining features of these websites?
- Auto-playing videos with no controls
- Abundant (unstoppable) motion and parallax effects
- 3D elements
- Highly performative content
- Numerous interactions linked to scroll events
- Customised mouse cursor behavior
- Unique or experimental interaction patterns
- Bright or unconventional colours and fonts
- Prominently featuring UPPERCASE text
- Designed for high-speed, high-spec environments
- JavaScript first development.
Exclusive experiment
- What would this website look like if it were designed to be exclusive?
- What if its sole purpose was to win an “award” and impress those judges and not care about users?
To be continued…