DBA Inclusive Design Challenge 2006

Winner

Consider™ / Wire Design

A simple, practical software tool to help graphic designers and their clients understand the effect of common visual impairments and check their work throughout the development process for visual inclusivity.

Background

Many graphic designers do not understand the relevance of inclusive design to their practice or view it as a restriction to their creativity. Clients are increasingly aware of the need for inclusively designed graphic products but are not equipped with the design expertise to develop an answer. Consider sets out to help designers and clients understand the principles of inclusive design without offering a restrictive one-size-fits-all solution.

How Does it Work?

Consider™ could be launched from any design software package or PDF Reader, which means that it will be available throughout the whole design and proofing process to the client and the designer. The first part of the software allows consideration of an audience from the perspective of age, expendable income and location and then offers the client a quick conversion of that data into a breakdown by common visual impairment. such as dyslexia, colour blindness, refractive error and partial sight. This information may be written in any project brief so that the whole project team can work with a better understanding of their audience in relation to ability.

Consider™ then enhances this understanding of the target audience, by replicating common eye conditions: a design in progress is automatically converted into a high resolution PDF file and the designer can choose any condition and degree of severity from a drop-down menu and view how their audience might see that design.

At this stage, unconventional icons give recommendations on improving the design for this condition and at this level. For example, for simple shortsightedness, issues such as type size and font contrast and colour would be highlighted. At a more severe level of the condition, the opportunities would include sound and shape, texture, Braille and personal assistance. For dyslexia, designers would be able to load examples from the library of graphic tests and different layouts for newspaper, website, posters, packaging, signage etc that are included with the software.

The software does not deliver prescriptive solutions but instead helps the designer to understand the principles underlying inclusive design and shows how they might make their work more inclusive. Similarly for the client, examples of how image, structure and copy can make a dramatic difference for the end user are highlighted and the software offers advice on these issues.

Graphic design innovators of the past and present would also be included in the software package for inspiration as well as examples of good and bad design, all of which may be previewed according to any impairment. Increasingly assistive technologies are creating opportunities for more inclusive communication.

Consider™ highlights some of these new technologies, such as mobile text readers that can quickly convert encoded files into speech.

With a far greater incidence of dyslexia in the creative industries, prescriptive guidelines delivered in a dull text-based format have been shown to be problematic. Dyslexia aside, they also lack the crucial ingredients of empathy and inspiration which would motivate designers to explore inclusive possibilities they might otherwise have not considered. Consider™ is therefore a tool within easy reach conceived with both designer and client as user in mind. It taps into their common desire for good quality graphic design that is relevant to a wider audience.

User Input

Clients, graphic designers, visually impaired artists and users with sight conditions.

Judge’s Comments

A brilliant, intuitive tool with wide-ranging scope that will change perceptions among designers and their clients regarding inclusive design, and help them jointly reach an effective inclusive solution. The judges were impressed by the refreshing, non-prescriptive approach of the design team and their canny understanding of how to overcome resistance and motivate designers and clients to adopt inclusive practice. They felt that the fact that the tool would be built within the familiar Adobe platform, would encourage widespread use and thereby empower, educate and encourage inclusive yet seductive graphic design.