Cognitive overload and digital accessibility

To reduce cognitive overload for people with visual impairment or sight loss:

• Use clear, large text with strong contrast between text and background.
• Avoid clutter and leave plenty of white space around content.
• Use simple layouts with clear headings.
• Do not rely on colour alone to show meaning.
• Avoid glare or bright patterns. This may be uncomfortable or painful for some people with visual impairment, or make it harder to focus.
• Allow users to zoom or increase text size.
• Make sure screen readers and other software work well with the content.
• Avoid using multiple icons, emojis, and moving graphics that do not have a stop or pause option.

To reduce cognitive overload for people with dyslexia:

• Use clear, simple language.
• Use larger fonts and plenty of white space.
• Break text into short paragraphs and use bullet points for key ideas.
• Use clear headings and avoid long or complicated sentences.
• Allow text to be read aloud using assistive technology.
• Avoid cluttered layouts and busy backgrounds.

To reduce cognitive overload for deaf people and people with hearing loss:

• Use clear, accurate and well-timed captions. Do not use autogenerated captions.
• Keep slides simple, with plenty of white space.
• Avoid fast-moving visuals and do not place too much information on the screen at once.
• Use high quality video so lip reading is easier. Minimise use of background noise or music.
• Make sure sign language interpretation is easy to see.
• Give written summaries of key points, and provide transcripts.

The Cognitive accessibility (COGA) guidelines

The 8 guidelines are design principles. They have huge benefits for people with cognitive impairments, but they benefit everyone.

1. Help users understand what things are and how to use them. This means buttons, links and icons should look clear and always look the same on each page. People should not need to guess what something does.
2. Help users find what they need. Pages should have simple navigation. People should be able to find important information in only a few steps. Content should be in small, clear sections.
3. Use clear and understandable content. Make sure information is written in plain language. Sentences should be short. Layout should be simple. Avoid jargon unless you explain it.
4. Help users avoid mistakes and show them how to fix them. Instructions must be clear. Forms must have helpful hint text. If someone makes a mistake the message must be clear and show exactly what you need to do next.
5. Help users stay focused by keeping pages calm and simple. Avoid distractions. Keep layouts consistent so people do not need to relearn how things work on each page.
6. Make sure people do not need to remember too many steps. Do not ask users to remember information from one page to another. Break tasks into small steps. Keep key information visible on the page.
7. Provide help and support by using helpful prompts, guidance and examples. Use clear icons with text labels. Give people support when they need it so they can complete tasks more easily.
8. Support personalisation by making sure people can change things like text size, spacing or layout where possible. This helps people who process information in different ways.

Resources

• Cognitive accessibility guidelines | Accessibility manual - Department for Education
• Avoid Too Much Content | Cognitive Accessibility Design Pattern
• Cognitive Load in Digital Accessibility | Tips for Better Clarity
• Evaluating Cognitive Web Accessibility with WAVE