Journal

Accessibility and Design are the same thing

Prompted by a letter by Nigel Gill, accound director of Sigmer technologies, in this week’s New Media Age (page 17) I just had to get pen to paper so to speak.

Nigel states in his letter that “general design opinion seems to be that accessibility is diametrically opposed to great design”. What? Is this true? He’s obviously not talked to any good designers. He goes on to talk about how you define design, information architecture and usability etc. Which is all really valid, but I can’t quite get past his opening sentence.

Now, Mr Gill may not have worked with good designers before. He may have worked with print designers who are new to the medium or simply designers who don’t see accessibility as part of their remit, or probably designers who see accessibility as a constraint rather than part of the medium. Accessibility doesn’t mean dumbing down. It doesn’t equal bad design. Is really should equal great design. Take architecture for example.

My father is an architect. He’s designed all sorts of building types for the past thirty five years. A couple of years ago the DDA act in the UK made it UK law that all buildings had to be accessible. This doesn’t just mean sticking a ramp at the front, it is a lot more complicated than that. Public buildings, such as libraries, for example should have accessiblity requirements built in to the fabric of the building - ramps, braile signage, hearing aid loops, attendents who can sign etc. It shouldn’t be dealt with as a bolt-on extra.

I asked my father about this a while ago. What difference did DDA have on his work and the buildings he designed. His reply was “it makes them better”. He went on to explain the DDA is a set of guidelines which good architects took into account anyway and bad one’s now need to follow. The same can really be said about designers.

Accessibility is Design. It’s part of the problem and therefore should be part of the solution. The two are intertwined and accessibility shouldn’t be seen as this black cloud on your design radar.

Comments

Completely agree with you Mark. There is no real reason why anyone can’t create good design within given guidelines, however constrained you may first feel.

The problem though comes when the guidelines haven’t been thought through and give conflicting information. Here’s one annoying example I’ve recently come across:

I was commissioned a documentrecently to design for a client who wanted it set to the RNIB See it Right Guidelines. I undertook the project doing some research and noted how the x height mentioned on the RNIB website had to be a minimum of 2mm, so his is what I chose and the font transerred to print as Futura 13pt. Strangley though the RNIB printed guidleines from the See it Right Pack neglected to mention the x height and plainly said that the font size could only be 14pt. I thought this was ridiculous as x heights differ on different typefaces so chose to follow the website guidelines.

Anyway to end a long story the RNIB have come back saying that they can’t approve the documentunless it’s 14pt so now I have to decide whether or not just to change the style sheets or argue my typographic point more. Being a considered designer I want my documentto look as good as it can so I will opt for the latter.

Graham Sanders's Gravatar

Graham Sanders
Wed 16th Feb 2005
at 6:43 am

I agree with you there Graham, that’s very confusing information. The x-height of any typeface is only related to the point size by means of a ratio - the two aren’t linked.

Take Verdana for example. It was designed specifically for screen useage and therefore has a large x-height to aid legibility even at a small point size. The RNIB really should get their typographic rules up to scratch.

Good look in your arguement - Do us all a favour and win!

Mark Boulton's Gravatar

Mark Boulton
Wed 16th Feb 2005
at 10:05 am

I agree with your statement that this individual doesn’t seem to have any experience with a great designer.

A great designer, in my experience, is one that can see the issue that needs to be solved, and can do it effectively without making the user feel like a complete child. That is the first part.

The second, after the problem has been solved, and an even mix of instruction and intuitive design are in place, then the pretty wrapping can happen.

Good post.

Hal!'s Gravatar

Hal!
Thu 17th Feb 2005
at 7:06 am

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A picture of Mark BoultonI'm a graphic designer from near Cardiff in the UK. I've been a designer for over ten years now and primarily work on the web. I'm still partial to a bit of print every now and then though. I used to work for Agency.com in London as an Art Director before working as a Senior Designer for the BBC in sunny Cardiff. This was all before I took leave of my senses and formed my own design consultancy, Mark Boulton Design Ltd.

I've got a thing about grids and typography and occasionally ramble on about them to anyone who will listen.

If you're after simple, clean and effective web design; let me know.