2020: The Year of Emails for Everyone

This post is part of our series Emails for Everyone. Find the entire ongoing exploration here.

A New Year’s Design Resolution: Let’s Create Accessible Emails

My design resolution this year is to learn and share as much as I can about accessible email design.

I’ve always tried to do my best and learn about accessibility, and I strongly believe that accessible design is good design for everyone. I’ve covered a few basics for web design in my blog post Structure Matters, and I’ll be expanding on this later in the year, with a focus on email newsletter and promotion design. I’ll also be sharing some thoughts on designing with color blindness and general readability in mind.

There are many great resources for accessible web design just a Google away. But when it comes to email design in particular, there are a lot of questions that I haven’t been able to find answers to, so I want to do a deep dive throughout the year into this somewhat (very?) confusing topic. I’m going to do my very best to use terms and words and approaches and thinking that feel comfortable and empowering for everyone. If I’m off, please, please email me and let me know!

Let me know in the comments or in the form if you have any particular issues and questions you’d like me to look into. And, please join me in making emails for everyone in 2020!

How do you like to read, view, hear and interact with your email newsletters?

To start, I’d love to hear about how you actually interact with your email newsletters, rather than making assumptions. Of course, I’m going to reach out to people and organizations who’ve done more real research into this, but all of our personal stories are so important! So, tell me all about it, in the form (all optional input fields!), comments or email me.

Name

Email

Would you like to subscribe to our email newsletter?

(Emails about emails!)

Sure!

Check the box below if I can reach out to you to learn more about your answers.

Let's talk!

How do you interact with your email?

Which email app do you use? Do you use a screen reader? Do you view images on as the default? Do you usually use your phone or computer?

What's your email newsletter process?

For example: I use Gmail, in my browser, and I have my promotion and update newsletters in folders separate from my "primary" inbox, so that I can go through them all at once, and open the ones I'm interested in. Lately, I've been viewing them with the images off because I've been starting to research email newsletter accessibility. I use the Gmail keyboard shortcuts to select and mass delete or archive a bunch of emails at once.

How do you feel about email newsletters?

Do you enjoy receiving them? Are some newsletter emails hard to read or understand? Are they hard to read or understand on your phone? Do you have any examples of great or less-than-great newsletters?

Do you have any challenges with email newsletters?

Do you have any vision, mobility or other challenges that can make email newsletters hard to read, understand or interact with? What makes it easier? What makes it harder?

Do you receive a plain text version of email newsletters? How do you receive it?

Do you know of someone or any groups that I should reach out to to learn more?

Do you design emails? If so, do you take an any aspects of accessible design into consideration?

What else should I know? Have a story to share? What do you wish all emails had?

May I share your answers on the blog?

Yes

No

2020: The Year of Emails for Everyone

A New Year’s Design Resolution: Let’s Create Accessible Emails

How do you like to read, view, hear and interact with your email newsletters?

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