Accessible design: Minimum effort, maximum impact
- 1. WITH LUCINDA HENSLEY Welcome! Accessible design Minimum effort, maximum impact April 25, 2024 AND JUSTINE SWAIN
- 2. Agenda • Why accessible design matters • Transforming an example • Clean screens • Visual design • Text and formatting • Multi-optionality • Tools to make accessible design simple • Q&A
- 3. 16% of the global population (that’s 1 in 6!) 1.3 billion* People globally experience and live with some type of disability or impairment. * Statistics from the World Health Organisation. This figure is estimated, based on those who have declared their disability either through their GP or other routes. Why it’s important
- 4. Why it’s important Permanent Temporary Situational A life-long disability or impairment. Examples: Blind, neurodiverse, brain injury. A disability or impairment that will impact the user for a period of time. Examples: Broken arm, concussion, eye infection. Where the need to adapt is based on your current situation. Examples: Noisy background, slow broadband, new children or pets.
- 5. An example of inaccessible design
- 7. Why it’s important • Cluttered screens divert learner attention and dimmish engagement • Excessive information creates cognitive overload, impeding learner’s ability to process that information • Busy screens convolute and disrupt the intended learner journey Particularly key for: • Visually impaired • Neurodiverse individuals • Screen reader users
- 8. What it is Ensuring there is an obvious and natural reading order to the screen: Top to bottom (columns) or left to right (paragraphs). Not having too much going on, only the critical information needed is on each screen. Making use of whitespace to prevent overloading the screen .
- 9. Cleaning up the example
- 10. Keep in mind • What is the key purpose of the screen? Is that the most obvious part? • Where is the eye naturally drawn first? Is this where you want it to be? • Everything on the screen should support the learning in some way; if it doesn’t, it’s likely just a distraction
- 11. Visuals
- 12. Why it’s important • Poor contrasting can render text illegible • Any graphics included in an experience have an intended learning purpose, if they’re imperceptible, we risk learners missing parts of the experience. Particularly key for: • People with visual impairments, such as colour blindness
- 13. What it is Using colours that compliment one another and don’t blend together. Avoiding colours that are “too stark”, like pure black on pure white, instead using muted versions, such as cream on dark blue. Avoiding colours being sole indicators, such as to denote status, integrate text and symbols to ensure everyone can understand the message.
- 14. Keep in mind • If your brand colours aren’t set up for accessibility, can different gradients be used? • Do the visuals all support the learning, are any of them a distraction? • Sometimes we do need to add extra visuals for decoration to prevent a screen looking bland, need to balance engagement with clarity
- 15. Fixing the visual design of the example
- 17. Why it’s important • Lack of clarity risks learners not being able to understand essential information • People are time-poor; they’re likely to bypass information that’s difficult to comprehend Particularly key for: • Visual disabilities and impairments • Neurodiverse individuals • Learning disabilities and impairments
- 18. What it is Using accessible fonts, such as sans-serif Using optimal line spacing (1.5x) Using large, legible font sizes no smaller than 12-14pt. Avoiding formats like italics, instead use bold text for emphasis Accessible language, like ‘select’ instead of ‘click’, clear button wording, etc. A A
- 19. Keep in mind • Does the screen look really text heavy and off putting? • There’s no point writing things if people can’t comprehend them, it’s better to say less in a clear way.
- 20. Reformatting and rewriting the example
- 21. The before and after of accessible design
- 23. Why it’s important • Some modes of delivery are completely inaccessible for different disabilities and impairments • Different environments for learning can impact the ability to consume certain modes • Everyone has preferences for how they explore and acquire new knowledge Particularly key for: • Visual disabilities and impairments • Hearing disabilities and impairments • Neurodiverse individuals • Learning disabilities and impairments
- 24. What it is Alternative (alt.) text for any visuals, offering screen reader compatibility Transcripts for any audio or video Subtitles/closed captions/open captions for any videos or audio, and recognising the differences Audio alternatives to text on screen
- 25. Keep in mind • If someone is missing/has an impaired sense, could they still explore the course? • Harness technological innovations to make some aspects more efficient if cost/time is a key limitation . There are lots of tools for things like generating captions and transcripts.
- 26. Tools to make accessible design simple
- 27. Why it’s important • Accessible design is just good design, it improves the experience for all, not just those with specific requirements • Authoring tools have streamlined the accessible development process – maximising their potential is crucial for designing a truly accessible solution There’s a huge, huge variety of different disabilities and impairments, the more our solutions cover, the more accessible they are.
- 28. What it is Tools like Storyline have built-in functionalities to support accessible design, many of which are simple toggle on or off. WebAIM contrast checker Eight shapes brand colour contrast checker Text on image colour contrast checker Download NVDA Screen reader and the accompanying NVDA user guide Hemingway readability checker WebFX readability checker DE&I Imagery Toolkits Recognising that the WCAG guidelines were built for websites not digital learning, Designing accessible learning content, written by Susi Miller simplifies the approach to accessible learning design.
- 29. Keep in mind • Research the tools you most often use, to see what built-in accessibility they have – often, it’s more than you think! • Better to have some than none – in an ideal world would all be accessible to everyone, but better to do the bits we can when it’s as simple as toggling a button on/off, if more intense elements are out of reach
- 30. Accessible design is just GOOD design • The more accessible a solution is the more confident you can be in your people’s ability to learn and comply. • You might not be able to do it all, but something is better than nothing! • The range of requirements is huge, consider how every decision could impact different people. • People’s requirements vary based on condition and personal preference, where possible give your people the autonomy to choose what works for them. • Accessible design makes learning better for everybody.