(Office of Accessibility) 2025 Recap + Color & Alt Text Tips for Data Visualizations

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Digital Accessibility News

From the Office of Accessibility at Minnesota IT Services

Illustration of large font "2025" with a person sitting on the zero holding a briefcase and looking through a telescope, highlighting looking back.

2025: A Year in Review

2025 was a big year for digital accessibility in Minnesota. From preparing for the ADA Title II update to exploring inclusive hiring and alternate formats, our monthly newsletter covered practical ways to make digital content more usable for everyone. In this recap, we highlight the top articles, tools, and takeaways—and we’d love your ideas for what to cover next year!

Illustration of bar, line, and donut charts using varied colors to support an article about color-aware, accessible visualizations.

Data Visualization Accessibility: Focus on Color

This article explores how to make data visualizations more accessible by focusing on color choices. Learn why color matters, how to test contrast, and what design strategies help users with different visual abilities—including those using screen readers. Includes practical tips, examples, and links to tools and resources.

Lightbulb, cup of coffee, keyboard and mouse

Tech Tip: Writing alt text for data visualizations

Alt text is more than a label—it’s a bridge to understanding. Here’s how to write it well for charts, graphs, and maps.

Data visualizations help people quickly understand patterns, trends, and relationships—but they’re often designed to be seen. For users who rely on screen readers or have limited vision, alternative text (alt text) is essential to make visualizations accessible.

This month’s Tech Tip builds on our December newsletter article, “Data Visualization Accessibility: Focus on Color,” by exploring how to write effective alt text for charts, graphs, and maps. Whether your visualization uses color to convey meaning or includes interactive elements, alt text ensures that everyone can access the insights—not just the visuals.

Alt text basics

Purpose: Alt text should describe the insight, not just the appearance.
Tone: Use plain language and active voice.
Length: Keep it concise but informative—one to two sentences is often enough.
Avoid: Redundancy, jargon, or overly technical descriptions.

Strategies for writing alt text

Focus on the “why” and “what” of the data.
Describe trends, comparisons, and outliers.
Mention the chart type only if it helps understanding (e.g., “A bar chart showing…”).
Include context. What does the data show? Why does it matter?

Describing color in alt text

Color is often used to convey meaning—but not everyone sees color the same way. If color communicates something important, say so in the alt text.

Tips

Describe what the color means.
Use labels, shapes, or patterns in the visualization to support color differences.
If color is decorative or redundant, you can skip it.

Tool-specific tips

Tableau: Use the new customizable alt text features (Tableau Cloud 2023.2 new features, including editing automatically generated alt text).
Power BI: You can provide alt text for any object on a Power BI Desktop report by selecting the object. See additional tips in the “Tips from the DAC Community” section below.
Static maps: Export the map as a flat image file (JPG or PNG). Then insert the map into a program that supports accessibility, such as Microsoft Word or Adobe InDesign. In the document, the content surrounding the map should contain the essential descriptive text which conveys the map’s message. Include a title, caption, paragraph text, data table, or link. Then tag the map as a single image (Figure) and add brief alt text. The alt text should convey information this is required to understand the map’s purpose and key message. Avoid repeating surrounding document text—complement it instead. This ensures the map and its relevant content can be read by users of assistive technologies, like a screen reader.

Example 1: Process Flow Diagram — Technology Modernization Funding Process

illustration of process flow diagram as described in the tech tip text

Alt Text: A process diagram shows how public and internal ideas move through agency review to determine project funding status. The steps are: 1. Idea submission (from public or internal sources); 2. Initial review by agency staff; 3. Assessment of existing funding; 4. If funding exists, the project proceeds with implementation; 5. If funding does not exist, the idea is evaluated for technology modernization funding; 6. Approved projects move forward with the goal of improving customer experience through updated technology.

Contextual Tip: If this image is embedded in a document or web page that already explains the process in surrounding text, you can use a shorter alt text and rely on the context: “A process diagram shows how public and internal ideas move through agency review to determine whether a project already has funding or needs additional technology-modernization funding. See surrounding text for detailed steps.”

Why this works

Insight-focused: Describes the purpose and flow, not just shapes or icons.
Concise but informative: The main message is captured in a short paragraph with a clear step-by-step breakdown.
Plain language: No technical jargon.
Focused: Does not over-explain visuals (e.g., icons, arrows) because they’re decorative.

Example 2: Pie Chart — Favorite Fruit

illustration of pie chart as described in the tech tip text

Alt Text: Pie chart showing that apples are the most favorite fruit (8 votes), followed by oranges (5), bananas (4), and pears (3).

Why this works

Insight-focused: Highlights the ranking and key comparison, not colors or shapes.
Concise: Once sentence. Conveys the meaning of the data, not colors or slice shapes.
Plain language: No technical jargon. And active voice.
Color not required: Colors don’t convey meaning beyond labeling, so they’re not mentioned.

Tips from the community

Digital Accessibility Coordinators (DACs) from across state agencies shared real-world strategies on creating alt text for data visualizations:

Focus on the data story: “When we make alt text for data, we are tempted to stay strictly analytical. However, we are usually trying to tell the viewer something by adding complex charts/graphs. The alt text should focus on the story behind the data with reference to more in-depth explanation where applicable.” This aligns with guidance from Dr. Angela Young, a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies in the Washington/Baltimore area, in storytelling through accessible design.

Practical alt text strategies for Power BI and MS Access: “Add alt text that provides context and highlights the visualization's most important details. The alt text should communicate the main message and be as informative as the chart itself. Alt text should be included for every object that provides meaningful information in the report. When creating the alt text, think about how you would describe it to someone you're having coffee with.”

Tips:

Focus on the message, not the mechanics: Instead of describing the chart type (e.g., “a bar chart with five bars”), explain what the data shows (e.g., “Sales increased steadily from January to May, peaking in April”).
Summarize trends or comparisons: Highlight patterns, outliers, or key comparisons that are visually obvious to sighted users.
Include context: Mention what the data represents (e.g., “Monthly IT spend by division”) so users understand the scope.
Avoid redundancy: Alt text can be shortened or omitted if the same information is already provided in surrounding text or captions.
Use plain language: Keep it clear and concise—typically one to two sentences.

And don’t forget: Alt text does not update automatically. If the visualization is revised or updated, you must manually update the alt text to ensure it accurately reflects the current content

Closing

Alt text helps make data visualizations accessible to more people—including those who use screen readers or prefer non-visual formats. By describing what the data shows and why it matters, you make your insights available to everyone.

Events and Trainings

[All times are Central time zone]

Disclaimer: Mention of any product or vendor is for informational purposes only and does not imply an endorsement by the Office of Accessibility or the State of Minnesota of any product, service, or vendor.

Building Better Documents - Usable to All

Date: Thursday, January 15, 2026

Time: 1 p.m.

Location: Virtually

From the Great Lakes ADA Center webinar page: This session walks through how to design, test, and remediate digital documents so they’re usable with assistive technology and aligned with the new ADA Title II technical standard, WCAG 2.1 AA. We’ll cover accessibility basics in Word, PowerPoint, and Canva (headings, styles, color contrast, typography, alt text, links, tables, reading order), how to export and repair tagged PDFs in Acrobat, and what to do about scanned documents and forms. We’ll end by unpacking the WCAG 2.1 AA compliance deadlines, key exceptions, and what they really mean for your existing files so you know exactly where to start cleaning up your digital document library.

Conference: ATIA

Dates: January 29-31, 2026

Location: Orlando, FL and virtually

From the Assistive Technology Industry Association’s 2026 Conference page: ATIA 2026 is where the assistive technology (AT) community will gather in Orlando, Florida and virtually! Over the past 25+ years, the ATIA conference has been the leading community-building and learning event for all things AT.

CONNECT with thousands of assistive technology practitioners, teachers, parents, caregivers, persons with disabilities, and more.

DISCOVER new technologies, opportunities, and creative ideas that support the power of the AT community.

INSPIRE and empower one another as you engage in authentic, thought-provoking, collaborative, and fun experiences that will shape a better future for persons with disabilities.

The Zero Project Conference

Dates: February 18-20, 2026

Location: United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV) in Austria; Virtual live stream of Opening Ceremony

From the Zero Project conference page: The annual Zero Project Conference has become a unique global meeting place to innovate for disability inclusion. More than 1,000 participants from around 100 countries will attend the conference at the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV) in Austria.

The Zero Project Conference 2026 (#ZeroCon26) will bring together innovators, policy makers, business leaders, practitioners, and other experts from around the world. The #ZeroCon26 Agenda will cover emerging trends, key areas for disability inclusion, as well as specific topics relating to Accessibility, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and Crisis Response.

More information will be released soon!

Conference: axe-con

Dates: February 24-25, 2026

Location: Virtually

From the axe-con conference page: Join fellow developers, designers, business users, and accessibility professionals of all experience levels as we rally to advance digital accessibility programs everywhere.

You will learn the latest trends in tech, global compliance, and more as we focus on building, testing, and delivering accessible digital experiences.

Please join us as we come together to shape the future of digital accessibility.

Conference: CSUN Assistive Technology Conference

Dates: March 9-13, 2026

Location: Anaheim, CA and virtually

From the CSUN conference page: Accessibility is advancing worldwide, shaped by changing policies and practices. In the past year alone, progress has been marked by the European Accessibility Act, the Accessible Canada Act, India’s Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, and Korea’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

The CSUN AT Conference has long been the space where global accessibility leaders gather to share ideas, challenges, and innovations.

The 2026 CSUN AT Conference will be held at the Anaheim Marriott in Anaheim, California. Registration is completed online prior to the Conference. There is no On-Site Registration. Be sure to register before Registration closes.

Attendee and Exhibitor Registration:

Opens: Tuesday, January 6, 2026.
Concludes: Tuesday, March 3, 2026 at 5 p.m.

Visit the Office of Accessibility website for digital accessibility information and resources. Share this newsletter with others! All are welcome to subscribe.

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