Accessible design
Design can only every be good if it is accessible to the audience. When creating promotional, procedural or teaching materials, we are designing for the purpose of communication. Therefore, if the message gets lots, either because of the language used, the format or the visual presentation, we have failed in our efforts. When designing materials for print or in electronic format, we need to be mindful of the basics of accessible design, considering colour contrast, font style and size, and layout.
- Designing accessible contentNUIT have summarised the basics of creating accessible content on their good practice website. When creating any materials, consider this to be a checklist, to help you create the best designs.
- Library marketing, communication and feedback guideFor an overview of the Library approach to marketing and communication, and help with your designs, visit the library guide.
- Designing for Diverse Learners
A quick tips guide to designing materials that are accessible to everyone.
Making accessible materials
- Good practice guidelines: publicationsNUIT have drawn together best practice on developing materials for print, including the University brand guidelines and accessibility tips on formatting.
- Adobe Accessibility guidanceIf you are using the Adobe CC suite, you will find some useful tips on this website to help you build in accessibility features to your designs.
- Gov.UK accessibility poster set
This excellent set of posters provides summary do's and don't, covering a range of additional needs. The posters give insight into how a one-size fits all approach is not always appropriate, but highlights where some simple changes can make content more accessible for everyone - Gov.UK accessibility poster set HTML versionYou can access the poster set online as a webpage.
- Everything You Need to Know About Inclusive Design for Social MediaThis blog post from hootsuite gives 11 simple tips for designing social media content that is inclusive. This is well worth a read for anyone who is contributing to Library social media accounts.
Videos
As a Library we create a lot of video content including short promotional videos, induction and teaching materials, and how-to's. Videos can be an excellent alternative format, allowing customers to access information in a non-textual formate. However, it is vital that when we create videos, we are ensuring that our content is accessible to everyone.
Videos must include subtitles (closed captions)
Subtitles allow customers with a hearing impairment to read the commentary on screen, but closed captions are also useful for international students or those working in silent areas.
When creating a video using software such as Camtasia, you are able to build in closed captions as you go. However, for most of us, the easiest way to add subtitles is at the point of publication. YouTube has an in-built auto-captioning feature that is fairly accurate. It will always require an element of manual editing but is much quicker than writing out
Include a transcript
When creating a promotional video or instructional video, it is good practice to include a transcript. In YouTube this could be pasted into the video information, or where videos are being uploaded to the VLE, transcripts should be added in a text based format (Word and/or accessible PDF).
Accessible design
When creating your video, be sure to consider the design of the materials, taking into consideration the general principles of accessibility including colour contrast, spacing, simplicity of language and the speed of the video.
How to make your videos accessible
- Art of the Possible: Making Accessible VideosAs part of an LTDS event, Dr Terry Charlton from the Learning and Teaching Development Service gave a presentation about how to make accessible videos, including information about YouTube auto-captioning. The PowerPoint slides give a good overview.
- Add your own subtitles and closed captionsGoogle help information that takes you through the steps of adding closed captions to your videos.