Lan Yan: prioritizing accessibility in web design

As a part of iilo’s “Meet the team” series, please meet Lan Yan (she/her)!

We love to help iilo clients design websites and digital communications with accessibility in mind. Not only does accessible design help people with disabilities get the information they need, but it also benefits people without disabilities. For example, an accessible website can be viewed more easily when you experience a slow internet connection.

Ultimately, prioritizing accessibility enables you to reach more people. It’s also a legal requirement in some cases.

iilo is grateful to collaborate with communication design professionals who are equally passionate about putting accessibility first. One of them is Lan Yan, a web designer who blends user experience strategy and illustration in her work. Read on to hear her thoughts on designing for iilo’s clients.

What drew you to collaborating with iilo?

After studying communication design at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, I spent over 10 years hopping around different companies exploring the world of user experience and user interface (UX/UI) design. I worked with both digital agencies and software development teams. In hindsight, I would say I was looking for a company that did meaningful work.

Now as a freelancer, I choose to support clients and agencies who operate in education, social justice, and non-profit spaces. iilo has been a great fit in terms of values alignment. I joined as a collaborator in 2023 and I’ve enjoyed contributing my skills to support iilo’s digital work!

What projects have you worked on at iilo?

I’ve mostly hopped on for web work, whether that’s building a new site from scratch or doing accessibility audits. The Alternatives for Women website was definitely a highlight for me. First of all, the topic of supporting women who have experienced domestic violence is one that I’m passionate about. From a website-build perspective, it was very fulfilling as well.

We helped the client redesign a 35-year-old brand and build a new website. There were so many considerations to ensure the safety of the users. We had to ask:

• What does online browsing look like while protecting the user’s privacy and safety?
• What can we build to make sure this technology is easy to update for this small non-profit organization?

I love that we did this discovery work in the very beginning and then worked on the design after.

I would say website design is definitely the deep strategic work, and then I do illustration on the side. For example, I created custom illustrations for a course guide for Gulf Islands School District 64. It was fun to design illustrations that built on their brand standards instead of using stock photography.

From your perspective, how does iilo’s approach to communication design stand out?

Accessibility is considered from the beginning at iilo. There’s more awareness about accessibility nowadays, and it’s definitely easier to implement accessible experiences online. It’s something that would ideally be incorporated all the time, but that doesn’t happen with every agency.

It’s pretty cool that iilo really wants to embed accessibility as a best practice. It’s not something you add at the very end. It’s nice to have accessibility at the forefront.

What’s it like to collaborate with iilo?

The work culture is very positive at iilo. There are a lot of healthy checkpoints like kickoffs and wrap-up meetings or making time for internal calls to make sure a project runs smoothly.

Lisa and Madelen (iilo’s co-owners) lead the meetings in a holistic way. We talk about things like gut reactions and how a client can benefit down the road even if they don’t have a budget now. This just doesn’t happen with every agency.

Also, I appreciate the consistency of the Slack ecosystem. I feel like as a full-time employee, some of those aspects of chatter, updates, and events are taken for granted because you’re working with the same group of people all the time. As a freelancer, you have to look for that community yourself — find your own people, updates, and information.

iilo’s doesn’t bombard you on Slack, and participation isn’t mandatory, but it’s a nice space for check-ins. I like that people show up and share. I get to know what’s happening every week. I also love the option to join iilo’s monthly virtual picnics. I don’t need to be a full-time employee to be able to experience and access these perks.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

Outside of learning and growing in the field of design, I do very typical Vancouver stuff like ceramics, gardening, and rock climbing!

Want help to improve the accessibility of your digital communications?

Our team is dedicated to staying up-to-date with accessibility best practices. Contact us to learn how we can help you reach a broader audience through better accessible design.