A presentation from Open Inclusion on designing wayfinding for people with hidden impairments from the April session of the Sign Design Society in London. Our presentation focussed most heavily on considerations and a methodology to design effectively for neuro-diverse users.
3. Who am I?
Christine Hemphill
Managing Director, Open Inclusion
Customer experience, design for all
Research and user insight from the edges in
Exclusion buster
Inclusion-led innovation
4. But not very easy to see.
Invisible disability is a thing. Quite a big thing.
5. “Disabled” “Impaired” Situationally /
temporarily impaired
In the UK 1 in 5 have a stated disability, 1 in 3 have a significant impairment at
any point in time and 100% of us have access needs from time to time
We all have varying physical and cognitive abilities
6. What you see isn’t what you get
Of people with a disability, only 1 in 3 are visible
7. 10% of
£23.50
To do
1/ ?
Walk
for
MS
Words
Co-ordination Speech
What you see isn’t what you get
Of people with a disability, only 1 in 3 are visible
10. Which means we are all wired slightly or significantly differently
11. Desigual campaign Sept 18
“DIFFERENCE IS WHAT WE
ALL HAVE IN COMMON”
We are all different. Some differences are visible,
most are hidden, many are variable
12. Feeling more resilient
Over Time
Feeling more vulnerable
Humans are not static sets of capabilities, needs and preferences.
We all fluctuate in and around our personal “normal”
13. S
q
e
ll
11
25+
…
!
• Memory
• Learning
• Understanding
• Attention and focus
• Social interactions
• Reading or numeracy skills
• Content filtering
• Mental health
• Confidence
• Language and speech
Neuro diversity represents
many differing needs
14. Dementia such as Alzheimer’s
Down’s Syndrome, FragileX
Aphasia, intellectual disabilities
ADHD, CDD
Autism spectrum, anxiety
Dyslexia, dyscalculia
Autism spectrum
Mood disorders, PTSD, psychosis
Anxiety, depression, eating disorders
Tourette’s, aphasia, apraxia
• Memory
• Learning
• Understanding
• Attention and focus
• Social interactions
• Reading or numeracy skills
• Filtering
• Mental health
• Confidence
• Language and speech
A designer needs to understand needs not labels
These differences have a broad range of causes and names
15. Model credit to Jamie + Lion
Actioning
Planning
Doing
Processing
Recall
Filtering
Deciding
Receiving
Perception
Comprehension
ST/LT memory
A cognitive model – three major differing functions
16. “ You have to ‘locate’ yourself, you have to ‘locate’ objects, you have to
make inferences, you have to make connections, you have to find ‘a road’
from A to B… all of those are metaphors but the underlying structure is
quite similar; you have to make decisions, you have to memorise
something, you have to bring to bear some kind of expertise.”
Psychologist Christoph Hölscher,
Chair of Cognitive Science
ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
Wayfinding is cognitively complex
17. 5. Build
• Staged / agile
• Measure
• Learn
4. Test
• Journey based
• Functional
• Range of users
• Extreme users
3. Prototype
• Low fidelity
• High fidelity
• Modular
• Co-create
• Testable
2. Design
• Create guidelines
• User centred
• Accessibility,
usability, delight
• Get creative
• Co-design
1. Ask and learn
• A broad range of
target users
• Extreme users
• Contextual
• Create personas or
other design tools
1. Ask
and learn
2. Design
3.
Prototype
4. Test 5. Build
So how do you design for cognitive diversity?
19. • get drunk
• operate in a different language
• get very stressed
• &/or really tired
or potentially rather unethical
• VR A day with dementia
• Autism VR
But really very limited when it comes to cognitive diversity,
20. • Description of design elements
• Walkthroughs
• Paper / cardboard designs
• Design overlayed on images of place
• Virtual Reality
• Augmented Reality
• Prototype physical demonstrations
• Pilot areas
• Live environment
Test your designs
prototyping from rough to ready
21. Variation in cognitive approach
• Learning
• Memory
• Social interaction / attention
• Mental health / anxiety
Variation in use
• Behaviours
• Needs and preferences
• Motivations
• Attitudes
• Demographics
SWIM = Someone Who Isn’t Me
SWIM to success
22. When we design for disability first,
we often stumble upon solutions that are not only inclusive,
but also are often better than when we design for the norm.
Let people with disabilities help you look sideways,
and in the process, solve some of the greatest problems.
Elise Roy
US Attorney and inclusive design advocate
“
23. • Good wayfinding may be a bit
like making good porridge.
• Apologies to those who are not
fans of analogies or the story of
the three little bears.
• The “Goldilocks” point is
enough (size, clarity, position,
format) for most people to
perceive and understand, but
not too much to overwhelm or
confuse
A little much signage
24. • Consider the “visual noise” of
the environment
• Just like good web design or
print design, the blank space is
as important as the elements to
create visual hierarchy
• Contextual visual noise is
important to consider
– Varying numbers of people,
traffic or other visual
distractions
A little too much visual noise
27. For better or worse, the people who design the
touchpoints of society determine who can participate
and who’s left out.
Often unwittingly”.
Kat Holmes
Ex. Microsoft Inclusive Design
Current Director of User Experience Google
“
28. A future thought to leave you with. Ready for immersive design.
Designing signs in virtual space - VR
29. Or, designing physical signage that connect to digital overlays
How AR allows information to be adapted to personal needs