If people struggle to read it, what is the design achieving?

Some design decisions look better in a presentation than they work in practice. Small type, subtle colour contrasts, navigation that takes a moment to find.

I can appreciate the intention behind those choices. But the person visiting a website has something to do. Compare a service, check a price, book an appointment. The design should help them get there.

Consider a contact form with instructions inside each field. It looks clean. Start typing, though, and the instruction disappears. Someone checking their answers now has to remember what each field asked for. Keeping a visible label beside the field avoids that unnecessary effort.

The same applies to colour. A red outline might draw attention to an error, but it shouldn’t be the only explanation of what went wrong. Tell people what needs correcting.

These are small decisions with consequences for whether someone can finish the task.

Accessibility addresses barriers faced by people with disabilities. Many of the improvements also help in less accommodating everyday conditions, such as reading a phone in bright sunlight. The controlled setting where we approve design is only one of the places it will be used.

For me, that changes what needs to be in a design review. Alongside the polished applications, I’d want to see what happens when text is enlarged, a form returns an error or someone navigates using a keyboard.

Those tests can reveal where an identity needs more range. A display typeface can give a headline character while a supporting typeface handles detailed information. A bright brand colour can remain prominent without sitting behind every paragraph.

That flexibility belongs in the system, with examples that help other people apply it.

A business can spend considerable effort sounding approachable. Whether someone can understand its offer or ask for help is a more practical expression of how much it cares about its customers.

The useful question in a review is simple: can someone do what they came here to do?