Gareth Ford Williams
Advisor | Accessibility and Inclusive Design Strategist
Accessibility and Inclusive Design Strategist
In 2005, Gareth Ford Williams founded the BBC’s Digital Accessibility Team.
For the first three years, the Accessibility Team was integral to iPlayer’s core Product Team, ensuring BBC iPlayer V1.0 launched as an accessible product.
The accessibility team became part of UX when the BBC’s UX Design Team was founded in 2008.
Champions Network
Gareth established the Design Research Team in 2010 and later became a Head of UX Design.
His team managed a network of over 200 Accessibility Champions, the first of its kind in the industry, and also pioneered the BBC Mobile Accessibility Guidelines, Subtitles Guidelines, Design System Accessibility Guidance, Neurodiversity Workplace Guidance and Publisher Games Accessibility Guidelines, all firsts in the industry, and used by thousands of organizations around the world.
“Shift inclusion in your thinking from worthy to worthwhile.”
Gareth Ford Williams
Typography
His interest in accessible typography goes back to his time on attachment as the Accessibility Product Manager at YouView, where he led the work on selecting the UI typeface and creating many innovative accessibility features for TV.
“Better data = better insights = better outcomes”
Gareth Ford Williams
Since then, he has been a crucial stakeholder and subject expert in the delivery of BBC Reith and the BBC’s Branding System, as well as becoming a regular publisher of articles and guidance on diverse subjects ranging from Neurodivergent Design Principles, Games Accessibility, Typeface Accessibility, Atomic Accessibility and a Little Book of Accessibility.
Large Organizations
Gareth now works with large organizations to help identify how they can scale up accessibility in sustainable ways.
“Accessibility Culture eats WCAG Compliance for breakfast”
Gareth Ford Williams