What are some common accessibility issues in motion design?

Contrast and color choices are very important in motion design. Motion graphics, just like most things in life are created for other humans, which means the audience will consist of diverse set of visions, including color blindness, low vision, light sensitivity and so forth. A few things that can help while animating/editing. Animate/edit in a darker environment, that will give you an idea on how much brightness to reduce or go full dark mode. Take a break often, this is not only good for your health but often times gives you a fresh perspective on the project. If possible, get feedback from those around you, they will see things we as animators won't. Motion design is a powerful tool, it should be used responsibly.

Some people can get sick from motion, animation, or parallax scrolling, which means it's really important to think about what will happen when things move on our sites. And some people won't get sick, but they'll get distracted. Most of the time we have a goal for site visitors, whether it's getting someone to buy something, sign up for something, or learn about something. Giving people the option to stop all motion will make it so they can stay and do what they came there to do.

Motion design, should be like that famous Bruce Lee saying "Water can flow, or it can crash", meaning the animation can be smooth or harsh. Fancy flashing lights/motion graphics might grab the attention of some but might be uncomfortable for others. The main purpose of any graphic is to convey a message, if the message is too fast or distracting, the audience might get lost, resulting in waste of time for both the animator and viewers. Smooth, right-paced and more accessible motion graphics never hurt anyone.

In my almost 3 decades of motion design, I can confidently say that sound and audio can make or break a video. If the quality of the visuals is low-quality and the sound is audible, viewers will watch without much issue, however if visuals are high definition but the sound is not mastered properly, no matter how great the animation, the video will become unwatchable. Audio is crucial not just for majority of the viewers but especially for viewers with low-vision. if they cannot see, they can at least hear it, the goal is to cover both visual and audible senses.

The world is a very diverse place, there is no one size fits all, especially when it comes to accessibility in motion design. Just like in real life, anything that is moving is difficult to see in details, the same logic applies in motion design, rule of thumb is, slow and steady motion often wins the race. Same for colors and contrast, high contrast and solid colors are easier to read in motion than soft-pastel colors. And finally, being aware of accessibility in motion design not only benefits the low vision/hearing impaired viewers but everyone in general. Think about it, if it's easily legible, the message is received by everyone, loud and visually clear.

Limit motion to where it’s really needed, and don’t use it to highlight common features. Remember “Clippy”, Microsoft Word’s Virtual Assistant, which was discontinued because users didn’t like it? I remember how irritating it was to have it bounce into view every time you opened a new document, and sometimes halfway through working. Treat your users’ attention like the precious resource it is and keep it simple.