Pictures, photos, infographics, icons – they all convey messages. It is often said that images say more than words. A bar graph gives a visual representation of statistics making it easier to understand. A photo of a landscape in a tourist brochure piques interest in a place. Readily recognised icons send instant messages, such as this is a train station or this is a toilet. But it needs to be accessible graphic design.
Graphic design is an essential element of all communication.
The way text is presented also sends messages. For example, a tiny faint font sends the message to people with low vision that they are not included. A busy page with tightly compressed text is readable but uncomfortable.
When graphic designers consider accessibility and inclusivity in their work, the result is a better experience for all…
Woolley’s research explores how graphic designers learn about, interpret and implement accessibility standards into practice. She used participatory research methods, often referred to as co-design. The outcome is a framework and a set of recommendations for supporting the graphic design industry in Canada.
The thesis discusses many aspects of accessible and inclusive design, and it’s role in equitable access to public information. Woolley has three main pillars of discussion.
Understanding the importance of access – the moral angle
Understanding industry standards and guidelines – the responsibility angle
Understanding accessibility legislation – the legal angle
The framework and recommendations were designed through a collaborative process with participants and represent a collective need for industry support.
Handbook for accessible graphic design
Download this free practical handbook for accessible graphic design from Canada. The text covers typography, digital media, web accessibility, Office documents, accessible PDFs, print design, environmental graphic design, colour selection and more. It’s relatively easy to read and has a logical structure. At the end is a list of publications, links to websites and tools to help.
Football is one of the most watched and played sports globally. Teams attract thousands of fans and clubs invest heavily in elite players. But what of the fans? What kind of deal do they get if they find themselves excluded from matches? A research paper based on eleven European clubs looks at the issue of inclusive sport for fans.
“Football is more than just a sport, as it is often described as a place where social bonds are established, and fans of different backgrounds, ages, and abilities come together. However, fans with disabilities face many challenges in accessing these events and participating in fan life.”
The researchers acknowledge that larger clubs have more resources to implement disability strategies. In general, they found clubs fell into three categories. 1. Elite performers who integrate fans with disabilities into their systems. 2. Solid performers with established frameworks but have gaps in services. 3. Developing clubs with emerging structures needing further work to support accessibility.
This study investigates how effectively European football clubs communicate and implement accessibility features for disabled fans. Using semi-structured interviews with representatives from eleven European football clubs and a systematic analysis of club documentation.
We present a validated Fan Communication Model incorporating key weighted criteria, including infrastructure, dedicated personnel, engagement, specific adaptations, ticketing, challenge management, and feedback systems. This model provides a standardized framework for evaluating disability support communication in football organizations.
Facilities for whole communities
Photo courtesy Football Victoria
Larger sports facilities are being designed for whole communities, not just sports teams. It has to be a social, economic and environmental investment. Belinda Goh from Populous provides some insights into the design processes behind two case studies. They cover cultural diversity, connection to country and including women in the design of sports facilities.Â
The focus of Belinda Goh’s presentation for the NSW Office of Sport webinar was two case studies. The designs were underpinned with a universal design approach using extensive community engagement strategies. Co-creation and co-design were essential to the success of the designs.Â
Goh explained that sports facilities should integrate community and grassroots activities with these projects. She uses examples of major professional sports teams bringing women into elite sports. So she is talking beyond standard design thinking to deliberately designing women into these facilities. But this made for more inclusive facilities overall.
Goh discusses how beginning with a focus on including women has matured into an approach for all Populous’ designs. It is about being more inclusive, equitable and universal in their approach. She says it also about going beyond access codes to making people feel like they belong.
Considering culture
In a second case study she discusses the new multi-use sports facility on the mid north coast of NSW. This project posed some additional challenges. It involved delving into the “why” of the project and significant community engagement. The area has a high Indigenous population as well as the largest Sikh population outside India.
Apart from consulting with sports organisations, they talked with people from arts, youth, and the nearby high school among others. In considering the culture of the spaces they also included the concepts of universal design and access to all spaces.
Belinda Goh’s presentation is engaging and worth a look in the video below.
There ismore on the ABC news website about the Matilda’s new home. Well, not so much a new home but a first home. The facility will also house a sports science centre, a gym and recovery rooms.Â
Gym equipment designed for disability
A team of industrial designers have used a universal design approach to creating gym equipment. Their paper explains their process, but more importantly, there are images of various designs for aerobic equipment. A great addition to any gym but essential for disability sports organisations.
The Inclusive Sport Design website has some good resources, namely videos, blog posts and other useful material. The resource list has four short videos explaining inclusive sport.
A universal design approach to all things designed is a smart approach for every organisation and business. This is not new information to followers of universal design principles. However, we need to keep saying it to remind all designers to be inclusive with their designs. It is a smart approach with economic benefits as a Getaboutable blog post says.
“By considering universal design from the outset, businesses and institutions can foster inclusivity while also achieving long-term efficiencies.”
CUDA followers are aware of the benefits, but the Getaboutable blog post is a good example of how to explain these to others. It covers all the usual suspects such as being beyond compliance and the benefit of a proactive approach.
Benefits of a smart approach
Universal design improves usability, enhances customer and employee satisfaction, and often leads to innovative solutions that serve a broader audience. Organisations that integrate universal design principles early in their planning process can realise significant advantages:
Cost Savings: Addressing accessibility needs from the start is far more cost-effective than retrofitting solutions later. Fixing non-compliant infrastructure or redesigning a digital platform after launch is expensive and disruptive.
Broader Market Reach: An inclusive approach allows businesses to connect with a more diverse audience. With over 1.3 billion people worldwide living with a disability—many of whom influence purchasing decisions—universal design is also a smart business strategy.
Regulatory Compliance: Many industries face increasing legal and ethical expectations around accessibility. Taking a universal design approach helps organisations stay ahead of evolving standards and avoid potential legal challenges.
Economic Benefit: Investing in universal design is not just a social responsibility; it also makes sound economic sense. Research indicates that companies leading in disability inclusion outperform their peers financially. Over a five-year period, such companies experienced 1.6 times more revenue and 2.6 times more net income than others.*
Guides for inclusive playgrounds for all children, and adults for that matter, basically provide the same information. This post provides links to some of them.
The most universally designed guide, is Everyone Can Play. With just three things to guide: Can I get there? Can I Play? Can I stay?
Water and adventure play, and connection to Country and community, are now part of Everyone Can Play. The original guide broke new ground by taking a universal design approach from guide concept through to the design of the guide itself. The result was a very readable and informative guide with just the right amount of information. The update process followed a similar process. A great example of how an iterative process brings great results.
Inclusive Play guide from South Australia
Connection is a key element: Connect with place, Connect with each other, and Connect with self. The guidetouches on aspects of play such as considering the senses and challenging activities across ages and levels of capability. The document concludes with some checklists for the preceding elements. These cover access, landscaping elements, layout, safety and location.
Sanctuary magazine has a great article on nature play in parks and home gardens titled, Playspaces: Child’s play gets serious. Touched by Olivia has achieved many of its aims and is now part of Variety. For academics, the Sanctuary article is alsoavailable from Informit.
An article from Denmark discusses the dangers of standardized playground equipment designed by adults with no input from children, who prefer to make their own play. You need institutional access for a free read.
Let’s play together in NZ
A case study from Auckland, New Zealand is a good example of how to create co-designed playspaces. The project began with a review of the existing facilities and how to achieve the outcomes within budget constraints.
There is also a magazine articlethat shows photos of the many park elements and features.
Inclusion in Motion playground
The Town of Canandaigua has partnered with Dream Big! Inclusion in Motion, to bring a new park to the community that features a completely accessible and inclusive playground that everyone can play on, regardless of their level of ability or mobility. The development video gives a design overview. It is being completed as community funds allow.
Building playgrounds for children
Inclusive play spaces are receiving more attention, but which equipment and design features are most suitable? Research in the US throws some light on this topic. Children, parents, teachers, landscape designers and equipment manufacturers all have a stake in the outcome. This means there are often gaps between what is required, what is available and what gets implemented.
Staying connected is an important part of designing for access and inclusion, but how do you engage with socially isolated people to find out the cause of their loneliness? They are disconnected to community and not willing to share their state of loneliness. But there is a way to co-design a solution for late-life loneliness without close contact.
Newspaper articles deemed as human interest stories elicit most letters from readers. So, is there a way to turn this into a method for finding out about loneliness in the community? The COVID pandemic created a wave of isolation resulting loneliness for a lot of people. But how can you engage isolated people in research? – they are after all, isolated and disconnected. The newspaper turned out to be a really good way to engage hard-to-reach people.
This paper presents a comprehensive reference for an innovative low-contact co-design approach, aimed at mitigating sample bias commonly found in traditional co-design workshops for eHealth technologies. By partnering with a regional newspaper (134 000 readers), we engaged the broader public in the co-design process, to tackle the issue of late-life loneliness. We employed co-design fiction, dilemma-driven, and empathic design methods, integrating these within journalistic content to prompt the reader responses. This initiative attracted 77 responses, including 34 from older adults (65+ years), 27 of whom shared personal experiences with loneliness. Our findings highlight the potential of low-contact, co-design via newspapers to foster inclusive participation, overcoming the limitations of conventional workshops, and enabling engagement with a more representative population sample.
Numerous guidelines exist on adherence to standards, but what is designed will be used by people with diverse bodies, abilities. There is no typical user, only what is in the designer’s mind. But it isn’t just about access, it is about being inclusive. That’s where better architecture with universal design comes in.
“When thinking about accessibility in architecture, codes set the baseline, while design defines the ceiling.” Enrique Tovar
Tovar writes in Archdailyabout the application of universal design principles to create spaces that work for everyone. She discusses how to apply them to all projects – integrated and intrinsic features.
Tovar takes each of the seven classic principles of universal design and discusses them in detail. The article has lots of photos, some of which might pose some questions for dedicated followers of universal design. Nevertheless it is good to have such articles in mainstream professional magazines.
“While each of the principles of universal design is compelling and necessary in its own right, the real challenge for architects is to integrate them seamlessly and simultaneously into the overall design. The maxim that “the best accessibility is the one that goes unnoticed” resonates strongly in this context. Furthermore, since good architecture embodies inclusivity, it is crucial to acknowledge that accessibility is essential to this inclusiveness. If we aspire to create a society and built environment that are universally welcoming and inclusive, why not recognize that designing for everyone is a fundamental aspect of architecture?”
How did you choose the colours for your last website update? Did you choose colours based on your brand logo and text or did you use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) algorithm? But can the WCAG algorithm guarantee good legible colour contrasts for websites? Research by The University of Cambridge says it doesn’t. So they have developed an alternative algorithm for good colour contrast for websites.
Examples of black and white text for comparison
The Accessible Perceptual Contrast Algorithm proposes that legibility of text on websites is better with perceived difference than a mathematical contrast ratio. White text on strong coloured backgrounds are preferred over black text in almost all cases in the study.
In the examples above, the black text passes the WCAG contrast ratio but fails the white text. The Accessible Perceptual Contrast Algorithm passes the white text and fails the black text.
This is important information for choosing brand logos and text so it isn’t just something web designers should know. Many website designs are guided by brand colours so choose carefully. This information is also important for product labelling especially for online shopping.
Colour contrast enhances usability
Using eye tracking and similar software, researchers investigated the way users read and access information on websites. They chose a travel website and a banking website for the research. The study found that the positioning of information and increased contrast enhanced the ability to find key elements on the website.
The article takes a universal design approach to the study, and uses eye tracking technology. The study found that regardless of website context, universal design principles are key to creating effective and accessible interfaces.
Anyone interested in optimal colours for web and phone might be interested in a project that came out of a colour matching game app. The game is based on colour perception. Feedback data showed designers how people perceive colour. With the help of academics they began to analyse the data in meaningful ways.
Preliminary analysis indicates there is a variation across countries. For example, Norwegians were better at colour matching than Saudi Arabians. Singaporeans struggled to identify greens, and Scandinavians did best with red-purple hues. Research papers are to follow which could lead to more inclusive colour choices. The article concludes,Â
“But the fruits of the project live on in open source. A generic version of Jose’s tools to query the Specimen dataset are hosted here on github. My greatest hope is other researchers find and make use of what was gathered, and that other designers and engineers consider leveraging play in unexpected ways”.
The classic and often quoted 7 Principles of Universal Design were devised in the 1990s. The world has moved on, but many academics and practitioners remain committed to these principles. Steinfeld and Maisel updated them in 2012 to include cultural awareness as an 8th principle. In the 2020s we need to think more broadly again. A new paper proposes safety as the 8th principle, but maybe it should be the 9th.
The 7 Principles of Universal Design were devised at a time when designers were considered responsible for creating accessible designs. Now we know the benefits of involving users in the design process as well. Of course safety should be automatically considered in all designs, but are all designs safe for everyone? A group of researchers from Ireland make the links between universal design and safety.
Now we understand diversity better, perhaps 7, 8 or 9 principles are insufficient to cover all aspects of our lives and design. The concept of universal design is much broader than just accessibility. Image is a photo taken in 2004 at Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access.
Feeling safe gives confidence
What do we mean by ‘safe’. Being safe and feeling safe are two different but related concepts. Not feeling safe can be just as limiting and exclusionary as lack of physical access. A conference paper from Ireland looks at this issue from a fear of falling perspective. Accessibility and safety don’t always go together.
Fear is a natural and essential reaction. Some people might limit or avoid activities outside the home because of the fear of falling. Others at an actual risk of falling might not consider falling as a risk. Neither condition is ideal.
The authors of the paper use examples of how design can make people feel safer. An obvious one is a handrail on a stairway. Having confidence to participate in everyday activities is good for health. Maintaining and restoring that confidence is another element of universal design.
The advantage of universal design over barrier-free design is it benefits everyone, regardless of age or ability. However design for personal safety outranks accessibility as a design The imperative to include design for personal safety even outranks accessibility as a requirement of a design.
The Seven Principles of Universal Designdid not anticipate advanced standards of safety in today’s world. Whilst Principle Five – ‘Tolerance for Error’ gets close, it implies the user who is at fault not the designer. The very fear of falling, inability to find a public toilet, or feeling incapable erodes confidence.
We discuss the design of facilities that lead to lack of confidence. Fear of falling is one of the most limiting when it comes to getting out and about. We propose an additional principle: Reduction of Fear.
By joining forces with health and safety issues, universal design becomes more inclusive, desirable to client bodies, and attractive to everyone. There are areas where improvement in design is urgently required.
How much does software design impact the way women and men perform tasks? Seems there is a gender bias. A study found the amount of thinking required (cognitive load), aesthetics, and emotional design could affect task performance. The level of usability, however, has little significance when it comes to gender.
Gender is not factored into the design for usability or performing tasks. Female users are poorly represented in software development which means males are designing for themselves.
Language processing and visual perception are notably different in females and males. Technology applications usually need additional cognitive processing determined by emotional perception. They also need retained working and memory details. So if men are the ones designing software, they will build in a bias towards their cognitive strengths. Consequently, women deal with increased cognitive load when using software applications.
Reducing gender bias in software design
The study introduces the key theories and the study design. Twenty-three females and seventeen males were participants in the study. Statistical analyses support the findings. Cognitive load and emotional design was found to have more of an impact than aesthetics for females. Consequently, software design should aim to reduce cognitive load. Men were not significantly impacted on either variable indicating the design suited their them – hence the bias.
Stereotypes have a major role to play so particular colour schemes, icons and language are ineffective. Minimalist design principles are recommended to minimise distraction to keep attention on the task. Another recommendation is to make it clear what the next step in the task is the sequence. The key point is to integrate psychological and biological differences into technology applications.
Most software designers are men, while women are usually linked with the aesthetic aspect of software design.
Software design is critical to the development of software, but literature suggests a gender bias. This bias might be causing differences in task performance between males and females. Applying cognitive load theory, emotional design theory and Aesthetic-Usability Effect we explore the differences between women and men.
The study was performed on two groups that possessed comparable educational backgrounds and professional experiences. The investigation encompassed two tasks aimed at evaluating performance in both professional and domestic contexts.
The study identified disparities among females, including high perception of cognitive load and lack of emotional design. It emphasizes the importance of incorporating phycological cognitive differences in design and ensuring inclusive design personas in software development.
Addressing the cognitive and emotional aspects of software design will reduce task performance discrepancies. It shifts the misbelief that task performance discrepancies are attributable to gender-based intellectual differences, rather than deficiencies in software design.
Overcoming bias in AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is entering our everyday lives with increased speed and sometimes without our knowledge. But it is only as good as the data it is fed, and the worry about bias is a concern for marginalised groups. AI has the potential to enhance life for everyone, but that requires overcoming bias in AI development. In his article, Christopher Land argues for more advocacy and transparency in AI.
The power of machine learning comes from pattern recognition within vast quantities of data. Using statistics, AI reveals new patterns and associations that human developers might miss or lack the processing power to uncover.
Designing for the average is fraught with problems. Statistical averages do not translate to some kind of human average. That’s because statistics don’t measure human diversity. That’s why AI processes are at risk of leaving some people behind. But in gathering useful data there are some privacy issues.
AI shows great promise with robot assistants to assist people with disability and older people with everyday tasks. AI imaging and recognition tools help nonvisual users understand video and pictures.
Christopher Land outlines how AI and machine learning work and how bias is introduced into AI systems if not prevented. He also has some recommendations on strengthening legal protections for people with disability. The paper is not technical. Rather it explains clearly how it works, where it’s used, and what needs to be done.
Bias in artificial intelligence (AI) systems can cause discrimination against marginalized groups, including people with disabilities. This discrimination is most often unintentional and due to a lack of training and awareness of how to build inclusive systems.
This paper has two main objectives: 1) provide an overview of AI systems and machine learning, including disability bias, for accessibility professionals and related non-development roles; and 2) discuss methods for building accessible AI systems inclusively to mitigate bias.
Worldwide progress on establishing legal protection against AI bias is provided, with recommendations on strengthening laws to protect people with disabilities from discrimination by AI systems. When built accessibly, AI systems can promote fairness and enhance the lives of everyone, in unprecedented ways.
Diversity and inclusion in AI
An Australian book chapter takes a comprehensive and practical approach to how equity and inclusion should be considered throughout development. This should be done at both governance and development levels by applying inclusive design and human-centred design to the AI ‘ecosystem’.
Seems you don’t have to know about UDL (Universal Design for Learning) in order to practice it. A study in the USA found that many instructors were applying UDL concepts without having actually heard of it. They call it serendipitous because it is accidentally beneficial.
Being able to take complex information and make it understandable is a key skill for instructors. The authors refer to this as sensemaking.
Instructors in higher education are often content matter experts but not trained in instructional design or inclusive practices. However, the researchers found that instructors were serendipitously implementing UDL without full knowledge of the framework.
The authors argue that this contradicts the belief that courses must be intentionally designed using UDL. They say this is explained with ‘sensemaking bridges’ of divergent viewpoints. This allows scholars to uphold both positions as well as supporting practitioners.
UDL and CAST
In the 1990s the nonprofit organisation CAST developed the UDL framework to account for learner diversity and variability. The three pillars are about multiple means of representation, action and expression, and engagement. The framework is one strategy that helps institutions carry out their commitment to accessibility.
Instructors in higher education are oftentimes content matter experts, but they may not have received training on instructional design or inclusive practices. However, instructors may serendipitously implement aspects of UDL without full knowledge of the framework.
This qualitative study used sensemaking theory to explore interview data from 33 online instructors with ten or more years of experience in online education.
First, analysis indicated that instructors used aspects of all three principles of UDL when designing and teaching their courses. Second, analysis found aspects of sensemaking—Noticing, Bracketing, Labeling, and Acting.
We suggest that sensemaking explains how instructors might incorporate parts of UDL into their course design without knowing about the framework. Further, we suggest that sensemaking could ease instructor transitions from serendipitously implementing strategies aligned with UDL to deliberately designing a course using a robust understanding of UDL as a framework.
Anyone interested in optimal colours for web and phone might be interested in a project that came out of a 
