Our History

Access by Design began in 2006 with a simple belief. Websites should work for everyone. From the beginning, we wanted to create digital experiences that were clear, usable and inclusive, not just visually attractive. Accessibility was not added later as a feature. It shaped the way we thought, worked and built from day 1.

Our story is rooted in lived experience, practical problem solving and a long standing commitment to disabled people. Over the years, that commitment has shaped our design process, our development approach and the people we choose to work with.

Where We Began

Access by Design was founded by Clive Loseby in 2006. The early aim was to build better websites for businesses and organisations that wanted something more thoughtful than a standard template. Very quickly, accessibility became central to that work.

Clive had personal experience of disability and understood how easily people could be excluded by poor digital design. Websites that looked impressive could still be confusing, tiring or impossible to use. That realisation became one of the foundations of the company.

We did not want to create websites that only worked for some people. We wanted to create websites that respected the needs of a wider audience, including people using assistive technology, people with different ways of processing information and people who needed a clearer, calmer online experience.

Learning From Real People

As our work developed, we learned that inclusive digital design could not be based on assumptions. Real people needed to be involved. Disabled users could explain barriers that were invisible to others, and their insight helped us understand what good digital access really meant.

This changed how we worked. We became more interested in lived experience, practical feedback and the details that affect daily use. A website might look clean and polished, but that did not mean it was easy for everyone to use.

Those conversations shaped the company. They helped us understand navigation, content, layout, colour, structure and interaction from a more human perspective. That insight still influences our work today.

Building Our Own Way

In the early years, we found that many website systems were not built with inclusion in mind. Rather than rely on tools that did not meet our standards, we created our own approach to building websites.

We focused on clean structure, clear design and practical usability. We wanted our clients to have websites that were easier to manage and easier for visitors to use. This meant thinking carefully about content, layout, menus, buttons, images and page behaviour.

By 2011, we had created one of the first websites that combined accessibility, mobile friendly design and tablet friendly design in a single build. That work gave us a strong foundation and helped shape the way we approached future projects.

Growing With Our Clients

Over time, we worked with organisations across the public, private and charity sectors. Every project taught us something new. Some clients needed clearer content. Others needed simpler journeys, stronger structure or a better understanding of how disabled users experienced their websites.

Our work has always combined creativity with responsibility. We care about design, but we care just as much about whether people can actually use what we create. A beautiful website that excludes people is not a successful website.

This belief has guided us for nearly 2 decades. We have seen digital expectations change, technology evolve and accessibility become more widely discussed. Our core principle has stayed the same. People come first.

Looking Forward

Access by Design continues to grow, adapt and improve. We still believe that inclusive digital experiences should be normal, not exceptional. Every organisation has the opportunity to make its online presence clearer, kinder and more usable.

Our team brings together design, development, content knowledge and lived experience. That combination allows us to support clients with practical, human centred guidance.

We are proud of the work we have done, but we are not finished. The digital world keeps changing, and there is still a great deal of work to do. Our role is to keep helping organisations move in the right direction.

Recognition And Awards

Our history is not just about awards or milestones. It is about a long-standing commitment to creating a better digital world, one website, one project and one client relationship at a time.