Designing for Information Accessibility

If identifying what information needs to be communicated in a design is the first step in information design. A close second should be identifying how that design will be received. More specifically identifying potential obstacles that could interfere with the design being received. This refers to accessibility. If an audience can't access your design, your message does not get delivered and your attempt at communication fails.

Things that can affect accessibility include vision and hearing impairments or loss, photosensitivity, motor/mobility issues, and cognitive/learning disabilities. Even being distracted or on-the-move can affect a persons ability to receive the information in a design. So how can designers address this?

Image of Universal Design at FujiXerox

Guidelines for Accessibility

The 7 Principles of Universal Design and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are two methods designers can use to create more inclusive designs. They both help designers to consider the perspective of all potential users and encourage them to design for all ability levels.

7 Principles of Universal Design 

Equitable Use – Design to accommodate users with diverse abilities (e.g., deafness).

Flexible Use – E.g., accommodate right- and left-handedness.
Simple, Intuitive Use – Simplify complex information. Use a proper information hierarchy, progressive disclosure and effective prompting towards task completion.
Perceptible Information – Optimize readability of vital information and present information redundantly (i.e., use pictures and text).
Tolerance for Error – Arrange elements to minimize accidental actions.
Low Physical Effort – E.g., minimize repetitive actions.
Size and Space for Approach and Use – E.g., accommodate touch target areas for average-sized fingertips. (interactiondesign.org, n.d.)

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

Perceivable: Can I consume content on my site in different ways? (Having closed captions for a video, for example)
Operable: Can the site function without confusion and without the use of a mouse or complex interactions?
Understandable: Can a user understand how the user interface of the site functions and the information on the site?
Robust: Can different assistive devices (screen readers, for example) understand the website? (Kramer, 2018)

Examples of Accessibility

Closed-captioning is probably one of the first things that comes to mind when you think about accessibility in media. For people with hearing loss closed-captions, subtitles or transcripts are critical for accessing audio information.

This video features Nyle DiMarco, a Deaf advocate, communicating in American Sign Language. While he signs an interpreter translates for a hearing audience. On Youtube subtitles/closed-captioning and a transcript are available.  Seems to cover all the bases, right? Wrong.

Commenters noted problems with the subtitles/closed-captioning, the transcript, and camera angles that made it hard to see the signing. All of which negatively impacted their experience and resulted in lost messaging. Ironically these are the sorts of issues Nyle speaks out against.

Accessibility Best Practices

Creating assistive technologies like speech-to-text software, and reversely text-to-speech for the visually impaired, are in the realm of developers not designers. However, there are steps designers can take to make their designs more accessible.

"Assistive technology (AT) is any item, piece of equipment, software program, or product system that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of persons with disabilities" (atia, n.d.). 

In the blogosphere this includes correctly using information hierarchies like headings; Providing alt text for images with a brief, concise description of the information therein; Making sure links open in the same window in order to maintain the function of the back button; Ensuring that clickable areas aren't so small that precision is needed to find them; and Eliminating excessive clicking or movement which can fatigue or strain users with motor/mobility issues. 

In the end it is not enough to simply make the effort to be inclusive. Designs must be thoroughly tested, ideally by people with a variety of abilities, to ensure they work as intended. Accessibility is not an extra. It is a critical element for many and beneficial to everyone.

Resources:

Atia. (n.d.) What is AT? Retrieved March 31, 2019 from https://www.atia.org/at-resources/what-is-at/

FujiXero. (n.d)Activities on Universal Design. Retrieved March 31, 2019 from https://www.fujixerox.com/eng/company/social/ud

Fulton, G. (2017, December 03). Accessibility Basics: Designing for Visual Impairment.Retrieved March 31, 2019 from https://webdesign.tutsplus.com/articles/accessibility-basics-designing-for-visual-impairment--cms-27634.

Interactiondesign.org. (n.d.). Accessibility: Your constantly-updated definition of Accessibility and collection of topical content and literature. Retrieved March 24, 2019 from https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/accessibility

Kramer, N. (2018, March 10). A Primer to Web Accessibility for Designers. Retreived March 31, 2019 from https://uxplanet.org/a-primer-to-web-accessibility-for-designers-2c548448c612.

Lambert, S. (2018, April 09). Designing for Accessibility and Inclusion. Retrieved March 31, 2019 from https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/04/designing-accessibility-inclusion/.

Soegaard, M. (February 2019). Accessibility: Usability for All. Retrieved March 24, 2019 from https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/accessibility-usability-for-all

Sollinger, S. (2014, February 14). Five Golden Rules for Compliant Alt Text. Retrieved March 31, 2019 from https://www.abilitynet.org.uk/blog/five-golden-rules-compliant-alt-text.

TedxTalks. (2018, September 05). Making Education Accessible to Deaf Children | Nyle DiMarco | TedxKlagenfurt. Retrieved March 30, 2019 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_Q7axl4oXY&index=2&list=LLdg0oD9zxCdhUdw95tvqBYQ&t=623s.