This project is separate from either of my two modules, which I need to complete for my final year. It does cover an area I am particularly passionate about, digital accessibility. It is also a group project and will likely be the last opportunity to work alongside my classmates before we all go our separate ways after graduation.
This project is to be tackled in conjunction with Big Motive and, in particular, David Fairbrother, an advocate for digital accessibility, especially among designers. I was very fortunate to attend a talk David gave on accessibility in September, and found it insightful and full of tips I could include in my own design process to ensure my work is as accessible as possible. I was, therefore, looking forward to the opportunity to work on this project with David and create something useful and meaningful.
The brief for the project itself was not complicated, even if the actual execution of a solution may be: design something (there were no major restrictions) that could be displayed at Belfast Design Week in April, that would get other designers more interested in accessibility and incorporating it within their design process and work. We would use the website https://www.understandingaccessibility.com/ and the information contained on it as the basis of our ideas. I had not come across this website before, but after an initial look at its content, I was very impressed. While WCAG guidelines are an essential underpinning for legal accessibility requirements, they are not always easy to incorporate within a design process and can leave you confused as to what exactly, as a designer, you need to do to ensure compliance. This website aims to help with this by explaining the requirements in an easier-to-understand way, concentrating on the practical considerations while creating a digital product. It is helpfully split into five key areas, making it straightforward to hone in on the considerations you need to make for each key area.
My group was tasked with the typefaces section of the Understanding Accessibility website. This is a large section and incorporates many different considerations when selecting how to display written information on a screen, as well as offering alternatives where required. As the web, in particular, is built on huge amounts of written information, ensuring typefaces and written content are accessible is key to overall accessibility. I was glad to get assigned this section, as it felt like a topic we as a group could get creative with and really come up with something that would make other designers stop and think.
I was also happy to see all of the members of my group were in class, meaning we could really get stuck into the ideation phase together right away. We decided to start by looking at the Understanding Accessibility website and discussing our own current understanding of using typefaces in an accessible way. This allowed us to see where we had good knowledge and where our knowledge may be lacking. This would provide us with a rough idea of where our solution could focus to aid understanding in these areas.
We discussed many ideas as a group, considering the nature of a display for Belfast Design Week. We all felt that something that attendees could interact with at the event made the most sense. While we are all more comfortable and experienced with creating digital products, creating something to be displayed in a physical space is a great opportunity and one I want to grab with both hands.
As we discussed ideas further, it became clear that written content online can often be used to provide instructions on how to do something, such as a recipe, for example. If these instructions are inaccessible, that would leave someone not being able to complete the task. From this, an idea was formed to ask attendees at the event to complete a task using instructions we would provide. These instructions would be presented in the form of a step-by-step process. For each step, we would make the instructions inaccessible to attendees by simulating poor typeface accessibility, such as making the font size too small or using overly complicated language. This would place attendees in the position of a person with accessibility needs that are not catered for, providing a first-hand experience of poor accessibility. We hoped this would make attendees reflect on the impact of poor accessibility and how it affects users of the products they design.
Further discussion led us to the idea of offering users the opportunity to create a piece of Origami, this art form involves folding paper in a set way that creates a recognisable shape, a common version is the swan shown below.
This suited our needs well, as it is a step-by-step process and does not require expensive materials or a high-level of skill from attendees. It is also a safe task to set people with minimal risks an important consideration when looking at asking the public to complete a task.
With a clear idea formed amongst the group we discussed it with David and our lecturer Daniel, both of whom liked the concept and agreed with our direction. The next step would be to flesh the idea out further and present it to David and other members of the Big Motive team in a couple of weeks.
Below you can see the ideation we completed as a group during the session.
Unfortunately in the intervening week I was taken unwell and was unable to take part in the presentation of the idea. I do look forward however to linking back in with my group, hearing how the idea has developed and being part of bringing it to life in April for Belfast Design Week.