Unlimited: Accessible Marketing Guide (May 2024)

House of Curio, House of Suarez Vogue Ball. Photo: @fotocad

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Go to Accessible Marketing Guide (PDF)

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We’ve gathered all of our best tips to help arts organisations make their marketing more accessible.

Here’s why it matters:

• 23% of the working-age population is disabled. Accessibility helps you reach a significant portion of your audience.
• Accessibility expands your reach. If disabled people can’t access your information, they won’t engage with your organisation.
• It’s good for everyone. Designing with accessibility in mind leads to a better experience for all audiences.
• It’s easier than you think. Just a few key changes can have a big impact.
• It’s required by law. Accessibility isn’t just a best practice - it’s mandatory (heard of “reasonable adjustments”?).

We’re excited to share what we’ve learned to help you make meaningful changes. Let’s dive in and make your marketing more accessible!

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Contents

• Why make your marketing accessible?
• Things to keep in mind
• Language and tone
• Accessible formats
• Digital accessibility
• Printed materials
• Resources
• Credits
• Audio version

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Why make your marketing accessible?

Globally, one billion people have some form of disability or impairment, and in the UK 23% of the population is disabled.

Inclusive marketing and communications benefit everyone – not just disabled people. For example, captions might be intended for people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, but they’ll also benefit someone watching a video on a noisy train. Plain English helps learning disabled people, but is also useful to anyone whose first language isn’t English.

We acknowledge the systemic power structures in place in society that are ableist. We can all work to shift and rebalance this. It’s our responsibility to ensure our marketing and communication activity is accessible to as many people as possible. We believe accessibility should be embedded from the start – and it doesn’t need to be a chore.

There are creative and exciting ways to do this. Keep each other accountable and remember that accessibility isn’t an afterthought. It’s a social responsibility and a legal requirement under the Equality Act 2010. By prioritising accessibility, you will attract new, diverse and disabled audiences.

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Things to keep in mind

Disability inclusive language

Inclusive writing is also about ensuring we use language that’s positive and authentic to disabled people.

The disabled community has experienced a long history of ableism, slurs and misrepresentation. Today, we have a responsibility to use language that’s progressive and inclusive.

Remember to:
• Do the research and listen to the disabled community.
• Use identify-first language, such as ‘disabled person’. This is in line with the social model of disability.
• Replace common ableist phrases such as ‘tone-deaf’ or ‘crazy’ with neutral or positive alternatives e.g. ‘insensitive’ or ‘wild’.
• Recognise that language is always changing. Language should be a live, ongoing discussion within your organisation. Set aside regular times to check-in and ensure you’re staying up to date.
• Ensure that everyone in your organisation understands what language to use in what context and knows why they’re doing so.

Content Notes

Content notes are also known as ‘trigger warnings’, ‘content warnings’ or ‘content information’.

They’re notes written at the top of content to let your audience prepare for the themes within the work. They’re often used to notify your audience of topics that may cause distress. This way, they know ahead of time and can avoid it if they choose to.

They’re especially helpful to people with a history of trauma, such as those with Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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Accessible Formats

You should make your marketing materials available in accessible formats. This helps to ensure everyone has equal access to the same information.

Accessible formats include:

• Large print
• Audio
• Easy Read
• British Sign Language (BSL)
• Braille
• Captioned video (Open/Closed)
• Audio Described video
• Email
• Telephone
• Text

When deciding which formats to offer, think about who you’re trying to reach, your timeline, and your budget.

You can provide a few at low or no cost, such as large print or audio. If budget is a limitation, it’s always best to be transparent about this.

You’ll also want to make it easy for your audience to request accessible formats by offering it in a friendly way. For example, you could say ‘If you would like any of the above in an alternative format, please get in touch.’ (Remember, this is considered a reasonable adjustment under the law.)

Large Print

• Large print makes text more accessible to people who are blind or partially sighted. They might be reading with the page very close to their eyes, using a magnifier, scanner, or optical character recognition (OCR) software.
• The default for large print is 18 point, with 16 point as the minimum.
• 24 point is sometimes known as ‘giant print’.
• Avoid fancy fonts, italics and large blocks highlighted or in capital letters.
• See an example of a large print document here.

Audio

• Lots of blind or partially sighted people prefer to listen to material, instead of using Braille or large print. It can also be useful to neurodivergent people, helping with information processing.
• You can create audio versions of your marketing materials, and embed them into your website.
• Ensure each recording begins with a clear description of what it is you’ll be covering in that recording.
• Break large documents into separate files for each chapter or section.
• Listen to an example of an audio recorded blog here.
• Provide a transcript with your audio, ideally in text or a Word document download. You can use online software like Otter.ai to generate transcripts, though they’ll need some editing afterwards to check for typos.

Easy Read

• Easy Read combines short, simple sentences with images to make information easier to digest.
• It’s designed for learning disabled people – of whom there are 1.5 million in the UK. But it can also be useful to other groups of people, for example people whose first language isn’t English.
• You can use a specialist agency to create them. You can also create your own Easy Read using templates and guidance available online.
• Easy Read Guides assume some level of literacy. If this might be an issue, it can help to also supply other formats like audio or video.
• See an example of an Easy Read document here.

British Sign Language (BSL)

• BSL is a sign language used by the UK’s deaf community. The language has around 150,000 users.
• In 2022, BSL was legally recognised as an official language of England, Scotland and Wales.
• It’s important to understand that BSL isn’t a signed version of written or spoken English. It’s a separate language, with its own unique vocabulary and syntax. This means subtitles or written English aren’t an adequate alternative for BSL users.
• Providing BSL might mean providing pre-recorded videos in BSL of written material. It could also mean providing a BSL interpreter at an event.
• You should work with your local deaf community when organising BSL interpreters. Deaf-led organisations are best
  placed to help you find the right person. Where possible, it’s always best to hire a deaf BSL interpreter. We’ve included some useful links in the resources section.
• See an example of a BSL translation here.

Braille

• Many blind and visually impaired people are now using sound-based formats in preference to Braille. In fact, fewer than 1% of the two million visually impaired people in the UK are users of Braille.
• Work with blind and visually impaired people in your community to determine which formats will best suit their needs.
• Braille is designed to be read by fingers rather than eyes. It’s a code based on six dots, arranged in two columns of three dots. There are two grades of Braille:
- Uncontracted (previously Grade 1): a letter for letter translation from print, includes the alphabet, numbers and punctuation marks
- Contracted (previously Grade 2): a condensed version reducing the size of Braille documents by about 25 per cent, generally increases reading speed.
• You can buy the kit and produce Braille in-house, or you can use an agency to help you. Search for ‘text to Braille translation.’

Captioned Video

• Every video you publish should offer captions. These may be open captions (OC) or closed captions (CC).
- Open captions are always visible and can’t be turned off.
- Closed captions can be made visible or invisible at the viewer’s choosing.
• Some people do prefer closed captions. But when access is your main concern, you should use open captions.
• You can create captions with a small budget using providers like Rev.
• It can also be useful to provide a transcript of your video as an alternative. This can be auto generated using online AI software like Otter.ai or typed out as you listen to it.
• When adding open captions, make sure to place them so they don’t cover up too much of the visuals.
• See an example of open captions here.

Audio Described Video

• Audio Description (AD) is commentary that describes on-screen or on-stage action, body language and facial expressions.
It’s useful for blind or visually impaired audience members.
• You’ll need to budget for AD and should use an experienced audio describer.
• The Audio Description Association provides a directory of experienced audio describers.
• Here are examples of audio described films on Unlimited’s YouTube channel.

Customer Service

You’ll also need to provide multiple options for how people can get in touch with you and your organisation.

It’s best to provide an email and telephone number. This means there are both written and spoken/hearing options. If you can also provide a number to text – that’s great!

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Digital Accessibility

Alt text and image descriptions 

Alt text

There’s an option to add alt text on your website content management systems (CMS) and most social media platforms.

Alt text describes images for blind or partially sighted people who can’t see them and/or are using screen readers.

Alt text also helps search engines understand image contents and appears when an image fails to load.

Image Descriptions

You can also provide image descriptions. These are usually added to the end of your image’s caption or social media copy. While alt text is read out only by screen readers, image descriptions are visible to everyone. This means that people who don’t use screen readers can still benefit from image description. They’re also usually longer than alt-text. This can provide more room to express your creativity and personality.

Example of good practice

This was an image used in a post published on Unlimited’s Instagram. To make the image more accessible, it needs alt text and image description.

To give you an idea of what these might look like…

 

Alt text: An animated character using a wheelchair, smiles while carrying a pile of books on their lap.

Image description: An animated yellow blob-like character using a
wheelchair is holding a tall pile of books on their lap, and they look ecstatically happy. In the background behind them, a wide window shows off a city skyline.

 

Creative alt text

Alt text and image descriptions don’t have to be boring. In fact, they can be so creative that some people see them as an artform.

Delve deeper into the idea of alt text as a creative practice in ‘Alt Text As Poetry’, a resource by artists Bojana Coklyat and Finnegan Shannon. You can also see our resources for more on best practice.

Websites

A staggering number of websites are inaccessible. This excludes disabled people from accessing the internet.

According to Scope, as many as 7 in 10 disabled customers click away from a website that’s difficult to use.

When you’re embarking on setting up a new website or developing an existing one, it’s essential you build access into your web design from the start.

Remember that disabled people access digital information in different ways. Some people use a screen reader, others tab through a keyboard, others use a screen magnifier, and others require the use of plain English.

When setting up a website, consider:

• The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2) are the international standard for accessibility best practice. You find out whether your existing website is accessible with their evaluation tools. Find more of these tools in our resources.
• Conduct research. Interview disabled people to find out how they use your website and what their barriers may be when they interact with technology.
• Review your design with experts or with formal usability testing. Peer review your designs and consult people outside of the project for an unbiased perspective.
• Once you’ve gathered research you can use this to create an idea of potential users and their accessibility needs.
• Once you know who you’re designing for, you can start finding solutions with web developers. There are a number of digital tools you can use and tests you can perform to check your website’s accessibility. You don’t need to be an expert in web access.

Questions you can ask yourself:

• Are you providing alt text for images?

• Are you providing open captions for videos?

• Are you using bold formatting, rather than italics? Many screen readers do not read italic formatting so avoid using this.

• Can you check the colour contrast? There needs to be enough contrast between different colours.

• If you change the display colour to greyscale, can you still read everything?

• Can you check the readability of your copy in an app like Hemingway?

• Is the font size above 12 point as standard and can people enlarge it? Consider incorporating a font enlargement ability. Is text still readable using larger font sizes?

• Choose a page and check whether it looks the same using a range of web browsers.

• Can you navigate your website through the keyboard only? Remember that keyboard navigation is used by screen reader users and people with limited dexterity who may not be able to use a mouse.

• Try using a voice browser or a text browser (free options available online).

Involving users with lived experience in auditing your website for accessibility will be an invaluable way to ensure it’s working for a wide range of people. This means having disabled people with varying needs test your site to see how accessible it is. Of course, these users should be properly compensated for their time and expertise.

Hyperlinks

• Link text should make sense out of context (without the surrounding sentence or paragraph).

• Avoid writing things like ‘click here’. Instead, describe where the link is taking someone, for example Find out more about our Open Awards.

• Link text should be unique and easy to read aloud.

Digital downloads

• Include both Word documents and PDFs as downloads. Some screen readers can’t scan PDFs.

• Give the files descriptive, readable names. For example, ‘Application FAQ’ instead of ‘Appl1122_b’. This helps blind or visually impaired people using a screen reader.

• Consider offering plain text versions. These are simple and don’t contain any images, rich-text formatting or embedded links. You could combine this with your Large Print format option.

Headings

• Make sure headings are in one size, and body text in another. This helps users of screen readers get a sense of the page’s organisation and structure.

• Headings are ranked <h1> to <h6>. Use headings hierarchically, so that <h1> represents the most important idea on the page, and sub-sections are organised <h2> headings, and so on.

Emails

Emails are one of our main forms of communication online, and we all read them in different ways. Some of us on our phones, some on computers, and some with assistive technologies.

When writing emails, keep accessibility in mind. Luckily, we can apply many of the same principles we’ve already learnt about. For example:

• Use clear, simple language.

• Use relevant subject lines.

• Use accessible fonts.

• Use a font size of at least 12 point.

• Avoid using all capital letters and italics.

• Use contrasting colours.

• Add alt text to images.

• Use meaningful link text.

• Add structure to your emails with headers.

Email signatures

Your email signature is in constant use, so it should be both accessible and inclusive. They’re an opportunity to signal to others that your organisational culture is inclusive. You can use them to share your own access needs and encourage other people to share their own.

Your email signature should adhere to accessibility standards. This means using a size 12 (or above), clear font which is not italicised, capitalised or using a light colour that’s less visible.

You may also choose to include your working hours in your email signature. This is a good way to set boundaries about when you can reply. Some people like to add a line that reminds recipients to respond only when they’re able to. This could mean not outside of their working hours, and not immediately upon receipt.

You might also want to include your pronouns in your email signature. Examples of pronouns include ‘she/her’, ‘he/him’ and ‘they/them’, but there are many other pronouns, too. We recommend Stonewall’s beginner’s guide to using pronouns in the workplace.

Social media

Using social media comes with a lot of complexity, from ethics to accessibility. Unfortunately, we can’t control different platforms’ commitment to access. But we can raise awareness and advocate for improvements and change.

In general, remember to:

• Write alt text and image descriptions for your images. It’s better to write your own if you can, as auto-generated descriptions are often flawed. Watch out for character limits.

• Provide open captions for your videos. This is important for accessibility, but also because lots of people now use social media without the sound turned on. Make sure to place them carefully so they’re visible on whatever platform you’re using.

• Use emojis sparingly. Using a few is fine but using too many can be annoying for users of screen readers.

• Use CamelCase in your hashtags. This is where the first letter of each word of a hashtag is capitalised. It makes it easier for a screen reader to differentiate the words, and is easier to read. For example: #AccessibleMarketingGuide not #accessiblemarketingguide.

• Avoid writing copy in all capital letters or using italics – use sentence case.

• Avoid using text speak abbreviations, e.g. pls send ur applications by fri :).

• Consider accessible formats on social media too. Could you provide a BSL version of your next TikTok?

• Avoid fast-paced or flashing content as this can cause seizures or discomfort for some people. If you must, provide a long enough warning at the beginning of the video.

• Create images and assets that suit the platform you’re posting on. Put the most important information in the copy rather than in the image itself.

• Don’t overlay text onto images as it makes it hard to read. Instead, use a block colour background with a good colour contrast.

• When using text provided by the platform (e.g. Instagram Stories), avoid cursive fonts that mimic stylised or handwritten text. Use a sans-serif font.

• Some platforms have automatic caption features. These often make mistakes. Make sure you spend time proofing and correcting before publishing.

• Using text-to-speech options in your videos makes the text audibly accessible, but not the imagery. To provide a complete audio description will require more than just using this feature. Alternatively, a video description can be placed in the caption or comments section.

You can find links to the platforms’ own accessibility information pages in our Resources section. Or, follow us on Instagram and X (Twitter) to see these steps in action.

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Printed materials

Printed marketing communications can be attractive and accessible.

Keep your designs clear, simple and clutter-free.

Text size and formatting

• 12-point font is the minimum standard, with 14-point being advisable. This includes image captions and logo credits. It’s not just visually impaired people who benefit from this. Many people struggle with excessively small type.
• Don’t overlay text onto images as it makes it hard to read.
• Avoid italics and use bold instead. Italics are not accessible for people with visual impairments or dyslexia. Almost two million people in the UK live with sight loss. 10% of the population have dyslexia.
• Try to use sans-serif fonts, rather than serif or ‘handwritten’ ones.
• Avoid using block capitals or all lowercase because they can be hard to read. Sentence case is best.
• Left align text, without justification and avoid using lots of columns.

Colour contrast

• Online colour contrast checkers are free to use. These are simple and allow you to check there’s enough contrast between
colours.
• Contrast between coloured backgrounds and overlaid text should be at least 25%. This means using dark colours on a pale
background, rather than pale colours on a pale background.
• Using a single colour background rather than a multi-coloured or patterned background can be helpful.
• Adobe software has in-built features which simulate colour blindness. This is a way to proof artwork by checking the
accessibility of the colour palette.

Paper types, sizes and folds

• Use matte paper as gloss finish is often too reflective.
• Low paper weights show text from the reverse and can be too flimsy to hold - use heavier paper weights of 200gm plus.
• Avoid complex folds in leaflets as they can obscure text and images. They also make it hard to open/unfold and are fiddly to
put back together. An example would be the concertina fold of a printed map. Keep things simple.
• Size matters – if the paper is too big then it’s hard to unravel and hold; too small and you won’t be able to fit a large enough font size.

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Resources

Resource lists

• Unlimited: further resources on accessibility
• Shape Arts: resources on accessibility

The Social Model of Disability

• What is the Social Model of Disability?
• Animating The Social Model of Disability
• Working definition of Ableism

Language

• Filmpro’s Glossary of Terms
• Plain English campaign
• Is disability a dirty word? Language and the labels we use

• Making written information easier to understand for people with learning disabilities
• Dyslexia friendly style guide
• Get your document’s readability and level statistics
• Hemingway App
• How to write in plain English
• What are content notes?
• A beginner’s guide to pronouns and using pronouns in the workplace

Alt text and Image Descriptions

• How to write good alt text
• Alt Text as Poetry

Accessible formats

• Transcribing text to braille
• RNIB services for businesses
• Rev: an online transcription service 
• Otter.ai: one of the best speech-to-text apps available. It’s not perfect but gives fast, accurate transcription and has a user-friendly interface.
• VocalEyes specialises in audio description at theatres, museums, galleries, heritage sites and online.
• The Audio Description Association provides a directory of experienced audio describers that you can filter by location and category.
• NaturalReader is a popular tool that can convert text from documents, webpages, PDFs and more into a variety of natural sounding voices.
• The Regulatory Body for Sign Language Interpreters and Translators (RBSLI) can help you to find qualified/trained and registered BSL interpreters.
• Action Deafness
• What is Easy Read?

Web Accessibility

• The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
• Understanding WCAG 2.2
• Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools List
• Accessibility: a website for everyone
• Improving the accessibility of your website
• Challenge inaccessible websites with RNIB’s toolkit
• WebAim Contrast Checker - make sure the colours on your website are accessible online.
• Lighthouse: an open source, automated tool for improving the quality of web pages. You can run it against any web page. It has audits for performance, accessibility, progressive web apps and more. It’s not just for developers. It now comes built into Google Chrome and you can run it yourself on any website. There are a few ways to access Lighthouse.
• ChromeVox: a free Chrome extension from Google that works as a screen reader. Chromevox doesn’t work exactly like the most used screen readers, so it’s not a perfect replacement. However, it can still give you some good insights into how some of your users are accessing your site. How to install and run.
• WAVE: a web accessibility evaluation tool that works with Chrome.

Design

• Colour contrast accessibility
• A guide on designing for colour blindness
• Colour Contrast Checker

Social media

• Facebook accessibility information
• How to edit alt text on Facebook
• How to add captions on Facebook videos
• Instagram accessibility information

• YouTube accessibility information
• How to add captions on YouTube videos
• TikTok accessibility information
• Twitter/X accessibility information
• Clipomatic (for iPhone)
• Autocap (for Android)

Further Reading

• Example: Disability Action Plan (From Australia but useful worldwide)
• #WeShallNotBeRemoved: 7 principles to ensure an inclusive recovery
• Putting inclusivity front and centre
• Accessing Access
• Culture Restart: disabled and vulnerable audiences
• Welcoming families with special educational needs and disabilities
• Ramps on the Moon
• Attitude is Everything
• Criptic Arts

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Credits

The original version of this document was published in 2016 by Jennifer Tomkins, former Head of Marketing and Development, Artsadmin and Jo Verrent, Senior Producer, Unlimited. A second version was updated in 2020 by Grace McDonagh, Marketing Officer,
Artsadmin, with support from the Unlimited, Artsadmin and Shape Arts teams. This latest version was updated in 2024 by Celestine Fraser, Just Copy, Ranjit Atwal, Emily Simmons, Antonia Stephenson, and Lizzie Young, Unlimited and Carol Jones, Arts Marketing Association.

Please get in touch via info@weareunlimited.org.uk if you have any questions, suggestions or additions to this guide. This is a live document, and we want to keep it as up to date as possible.

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Audio version

Audio: Introduction and contents

Audio: Why make your marketing accessible

Audio: Things to keep in mind

Audio: Language and tone

Audio: Accessible formats

Audio: Digital accessibility

Audio: Printed materials

Audio: Resources

Audio: Credits

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Large Print (PDF) 

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