Design Tools for PDF

Creating visually engaging materials is easier than ever with popular design tools like Canva and Adobe Express. Modern platforms empower authors to design everything from flyers and infographics to social media posts and presentations, often with little to no design experience required.

But ease of use doesn't always mean accessibility.

Students, faculty and community members rely on accessible content to fully engage with the Clemson Experience. This guide is designed to help educators and marketers create accessible PDFs using these tools.

Best Practices

Regardless of the tool you use for your designs, keep accessibility in mind. Review and follow accessibility concepts, including the following:

• Use sufficient color contrast to ensure text is legible.
• Avoid relying on color alone to convey meaning.
• Provide descriptive link text.
• Provide captions for videos.
• Avoid flashing content.

Some tools create PDFs that require additional review and remediation. An understanding of PDF fundamentals is a prerequisite for checking and remediating PDFs.

Adobe Express

Adobe Express does not currently provide authors with control over alternative text, reading order, content structure (headings, lists, tables) or document metadata. Instead, when exporting to a PDF, Express automatically tags the document for accessibility. Because auto-tagging does not currently yield consistent results, manual verification and remediation using a PDF editor are required.

Download as a tagged PDF

When you've completed your design, download the PDF with accessibility tags:

1. Select File > Download.
2. Select the File Format PDF Standard (Best for documents).
3. Check Add accessibility tags.

Check and remediate in Adobe Acrobat Pro

After downloading the PDF, open it in Adobe Acrobat Pro. Common issues include:

• Incorrect heading structure
• Missing alternative text
• Missing document title
• Incorrect reading and tag order

To review and remediate the PDF:

1. Review and update the reading order to ensure content flows logically.
2. Review and update tags to ensure a logical tag order and appropriate tagging of headings (H1, H2, etc.)
3. If your design uses lists or tables, review and update the tag structure for these complex tags.
4. Review and update alternative text for images.
5. Review and update the document's title and language.
6. Run a final accessibility check in Acrobat Pro and resolve any remaining issues.

Adobe InDesign

Adobe InDesign can generate accessible PDFs when authored properly, with a few exceptions. Applying the following techniques can help avoid manual remediation of the final PDF:

• Map paragraph styles to tags.
• Use threading, layers, anchors and articles to manage reading order.
• Add alternative text to images.
• Put only non-essential information in parent pages.
• Export to an interactive PDF, setting the Display Title and Language. Select Create Tagged PDF and Use Structure for Tab Order in the Export dialog.

This list is deceptively short: InDesign is a complex piece of software; mastery typically requires many hours of training. For details and support with authoring accessible content in InDesign, contact the digital accessibility team.

Known issues

• InDesign can generate accessible tables with column headers. Complex tables and tables with row headers must be remediated using a PDF editor.
• Type on a path creates a container for each letter and needs additional remediation in the generated PDF.

Canva

Canva can generate accessible PDFs, with some exceptions.

When authoring in Canva:

• Add alternative text to images and QR codes.
• Adjust the reading order using the Layers panel.
  • Select Position and choose the Layers tab.
  • Organize layers in a logical reading order, from bottom to top. The bottom layer is read first.
  • Images marked as decorative can appear anywhere in the reading order that best prevents layers from overlapping content.
• Edit text semantics to create a logical heading structure (Heading 1 – Heading 6).

When your design is complete:

1. Select File > Accessibility > Check design accessibility and resolve any identified issues.
2. Export to PDF with accessibility tags.
   1. Select PDF Standard as the file type.
   2. Make sure Flatten PDF is unchecked.
   3. Select Match reading order to layers.

The PDF will maintain the same title as your design.

Known issues

• Some complex elements may not be tagged properly. Avoid 3D elements, Sheets and Forms.
• Lists may cause a warning when running Acrobat Pro's accessibility check, resulting in "Associated with content – Failed." This warning can be ignored.

Venngage

Venngage can generate accessible PDFs. It provides multiple tools to help ensure accessibility, including an accessibility checker, a color contrast checker and a color blindness simulator. Authors can provide alternative text, tag headings and manage the reading order.

When designing in Venngage, start with an accessible template and design with accessibility in mind using the tools it provides.

Known issues

• Venngage's AI assistant can create accessibility issues in your design. Double-check accessibility after using the AI assistant.