Regardless of style or intentions, graphic communication design generally has something in common all over the world: the design and communication needs to be understood (and generally the producers of the information want this as well). It must make the users feel welcome; it must be readable, intelligible, and understandable; and it must allow people to act appropriately. Even if you want to create something confusing, you will still want people to understand that this was your intention. The aesthetic quality of a project and information is important, but equally important and sometimes overlooked by graphic designers is accessibility and usability. People not only want to look at something interesting, beautiful, and appealing (aesthetics), they also want to complete tasks, achieve, and get stuff done with the item (usability). As designers we have a responsibility to make information and products that work well for people, not just people (the main users) but also clients, other collaborators, and suppliers. What about people? Is everyone the same or are there different types of people who have a wide variety and different types of needs, and who all approach our designs differently? What does “design that works well” involve and how you can make your design accessible and usable? What about the client? How should we respond to their requirements? Finally, I will briefly describe some design terminologies and areas which you might not be aware of.
WHY BOTHER WITH ACCESSIBLE AND USABLE GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION DESIGN?
We have a lot more information about accessibility and usability and about people today than in previous times. Accessibility and usability issues are constantly evolving as people have to learn new systems and platforms. We have gone from clay tablets to Egyptian papyrus rolls, to Chinese books, to the codex, to medieval books, to book printing, to currently screens. Although Josef Müller-Brockmann (a notable Swiss graphic communication designer working in the 1930s–1990s) never labeled his work as accessible, he sought to make graphic communication design clear and above all objective (rather than subjective and about personal expression).
It is important for information, design, and communication to be accessible and usable to different types of people so we do not exclude people. Not every person and user is highly abled and knowledgeable (what typical designers think). Here are some statistics on groups of the population (demographics):
• Twenty percent of the US population have a disability, and almost 75 percent of people over the age of eighty do too.1
• Five hundred thirty-four million people (8.69 percent) in the world are children aged five to nine. One person in eleven people worldwide is aged five to nine years old.2
• One in ten people worldwide show some signs of dyslexia (528 million people, 10 percent).3
• One in thirty people in the UK has some kind of visual impairment. In 2008 there were an estimated 1.8 million people (30 percent) living in the UK with some kind of visual impairment (moderate, severe, or total blindness).4
• Twenty-eight percent of the world’s population between the years of 2000 and 2025 will be aged forty-five years and older.5 One in six Americans (17 percent), forty-five years of age or older, representing 16.5 million middle-aged and older adults, reports some form of vision impairment even when wearing glasses or contact lenses.6 From 2000 until 2050, the world’s population aged sixty and over will more than triple from 600 million to two billion.7
Beauty or aesthetics does not have to be sacrificed in relation to concerns of accessibility and usability. What would you do if you acquired a disability or knew someone who had a disability? By making information and communication accessible to as many people as possible, not only are they given a fair chance of being able to use the information, you also are making it easier to use, while reaching and communicating with more people. The more people you reach, the more potential people you inform, communicate with, or add to your customer base range.
The Click-Away Pound Survey 20168 explored the online shopping experience of customers with disabilities and the costs to businesses of ignoring them. The disabled participants varied on level of competence and personal conditions, but include those with visual and hearing impairment, manual dexterity, and neurodiversity. Based on the survey’s findings, around 6.1 million disabled Internet users in the UK have access needs—and 71 percent of disabled customers with access needs will click away from a website they find difficult to use. Only 7 percent would phone a helpline and 11 percent would get help from someone else. What is important for brands to note is that 10 percent of the UK’s total online spending amount of 11.75 billion pounds is lost because their websites fail to take into account the needs of people with disabilities. Eighty-two percent of customers with access needs would spend more if websites were more accessible, the survey said.
PROBLEMS OF BAD DESIGN
Have you ever been confused because something is communicated or designed so unclearly that you are having trouble understanding? Have you ever felt more stressed than usual because you cannot achieve something that should be fairly easy or straightforward to do? Have you ever been charged for something because you failed to understand the terms and conditions? Can you not achieve what you thought you would be able to with the design because it does not work well, is slow, and is unreliable? Have you ever felt left out of the conversation between the producer of the information and yourself? These are all issues to do with design not working well. Not only is inaccessible and unusable design disruptive and annoying, it can be dangerous. For example, Jonathan Lazar and Paul Jaeger mention that “in October 2010, some content on the website at ready.gov, which provides emergency readiness information, was inaccessible, meaning that blind people could not access the information about hurricane preparedness and were not even aware that the information is there.”9
ACCESSIBILITY RESPONSIBILITY
Accessibility is about access. It refers to the ability for general people and people with an impairment, disability, or special need to access, use, and benefit from everything within their environment. It is the “degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible.”10
What different types of people are there and what might be their makeups? What is the person’s knowledge, education, or skill level: beginner, intermediate, or advanced? Are they young, middle aged, or elderly? Do they have any impairments: dyslexia, visual clarity, cognitive, memory, dexterity, mobility, autism, or color blindness? What is their literacy level: low, medium, or high, and how will that affect their ability to process the content? Do they use or require assistive aids, technology, or devices: glasses, magnifier, hearing aid, walking stick, wheelchair, screen reader, reinterpretation software, dictation/audio software, or refreshable braille? What technology do they use: paper, desktop computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone, or smart watch? How about the environment they are in: lighting (good or bad), weather (sunny, windy, rainy, cold, hot), noise? Other aspects to consider include ethnicity, religion, culture, geographic location, and so on. The list is not extensive but gives you an idea about how people’s needs and setups differ.
As designers we need to be aware of people’s abilities and requirements. Groups of the population (demographics) all over the world often change; people rarely stay the same. Regarding the project we are working on, is the product or information going to be used by a very small user base (such as an item intended for one person to use), or is it going to be used by a wide and unpredictable user base (such as a government website for completing your tax return, or a bill/statement from a company, or another public service)? When the user base for the design is very high and varied, you are going to want to make sure the information can be accessed by as many people as possible, and maybe provide the information in alternative formats (such as large print). Do designers in general design for themselves (a single user base), or do they generally design for a wide range of people and cater to a wide range of needs?
The web is an increasingly important resource in many aspects of life: education, employment, government, commerce, health care, recreation, and more. It is essential that the web be accessible in order to provide equal access and equal opportunity to people with disabilities. An accessible web can also help people with disabilities more actively participate in society.11 There is also the issue of the ability to customize the presentation of the information in a mainly digital context. A webpage can be zoomed in, giving a better view of images, text size, and finer elements such as buttons, links, and form elements. Not only this, users can change the color of the information, change the typeface and background color or put a color overlay over the printed information.
LEGAL REQUIREMENTS FOR ACCESSIBILITY
There are laws stating that information and communication should be accessible, and that organizations should not unnecessarily exclude or discriminate against people:
England, Scotland, and Wales
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) originally came in force in 1995; the Equality Act 2010 has overtaken it.12 The Equality Act 2010 does not refer explicitly to website accessibility, but makes it illegal to discriminate against people with disabilities. The act applies to anyone providing a service—public, private, and voluntary sectors. The act specifically identifies providing information in an accessible format as a reasonable adjustment—for example, braille, large print, easy-read, or colored paper.
Ontario, Canada
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act 2005 part 2, “Information and Communications Standards,” states that “except as otherwise provided, every obligated organization shall upon request provide or arrange for the provision of accessible formats and communication supports for persons with disabilities,” “The Government of Ontario and the Legislative Assembly shall make their internet and intranet websites and web content conform with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, at Level AA,” and “Designated public sector organizations and large organizations shall make their internet websites and web content conform with the W3C and WCAG 2.0.”13
USA
The Plain Writing Act of 2010 requires that federal agencies use “clear Government communication that the public can understand and use.”14
European Union
Directive 2004/27/EC article 63(2) states that for medicine information leaflets “the package leaflet must be written and designed to be clear and understandable, enabling the users to act appropriately, when necessary with the help of health professionals.”15 One of the changes in the 2004 European Commission directive was to ensure that all medicine information leaflets “reflect the results of consultations with target patient groups.”16 In other words, when producing a leaflet, user testing (or “readability testing” as it is also known) must be done.17 A satisfactory test outcome is when the information requested within the package leaflet can be found by 90 percent of test participants, of whom 90 percent can show that they understand it.18
New Zealand
In New Zealand, legislation sets specific protocols for online accessibility. WebAIM19 describes these terms:
The E-Government initiative of New Zealand consists of a number of different standards, strategies, guidelines, and resources related to electronic information. The scope of the E-Government initiative extends well beyond that of web accessibility, but it does include a web accessibility policy as well, which is referenced within a larger set of web guidelines.20 The web accessibility policy states that all public sector websites ‘must deliver services in a way that is accessible to the people it serves.’ In general terms, the guidelines state that web content must be adaptable to different user circumstances and preferences, and be accessible to people with disabilities. Specifically, the guidelines say that content developers must design content in accordance with WCAG 1.0 guidelines and that they: must satisfy priority 1 checkpoints, should satisfy priority 2 checkpoints, may satisfy priority 3 checkpoints.
Norway
Morten Rand-Hendriksen21 says,
In 2013 the Norwegian government passed new regulations regarding the Universal Design of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) which mandates that all websites must meet a minimum accessibility standard of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, level AA. The new regulation22 is an extension of the existing Anti-Discrimination and Accessibility Act which states, in part: Universal Design means designing, or accommodating, the main solution with regards to physical conditions, so that the solution may be used by as many people as possible, regardless of disability. The regulation targets all private and public organizations, institutions, and businesses who use ICT solutions as their main form of communication with the public regardless of who owns the solution. In other words, even if you rent space or services from another business you are still responsible for meeting the requirement. The “solutions” mentioned are divided into two groups:
• Web Solutions (publicly accessible informational websites, websites targeted toward mobile devices, and ecommerce solutions)
• ‘Automata’ (ATMS and ticket vending machines)
An important point to make in regard to accessibility is, eventually, what is the accessibility experience of people with the design, and what are the negative and positive issues from testing the design with people? You can consider expert opinion as one type of information, literature and reviews as another, and testing as yet another aspect.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE ACCESSIBLE AND TO HAVE ACCESS?
Accessible design is good design for all, and surely that is better design. People use products and information to achieve goals and then to get on with the rest of their lives. It is about offering as many ways as possible into a design. Morten Rand-Hendriksen says, “Accessibility is a rights issue. An inaccessible website is a site that discriminates against groups of people based on disabilities and other accessibility concerns. Shipping an inaccessible website is like saying ‘Here is some interesting content. If you can’t access it because of your disability, too bad for you. I don’t care.’ Imagine if a restaurant did that to a wheelchair user. Or a municipality refused to add audio signals to a pedestrian crossing because they considered it an inconvenient or expensive option. Web content is no different.”23 What is the point of a webpage only being accessible to a few people? It defeats the true nature of the web (that is, a website being able to be used by everyone). James King says, “The Internet is a means of making resources accessible to anyone with a computer. Accessibility is therefore the reason for any website to exist, and the argument that accessibility is in some way stifling website design is based on a misconception of what the web has become. A misconception common among graphic designers.”24 Jonathan Lazar and Paul Jaeger say, “An accessible Internet holds enormous potential to heighten the inclusion of people with disabilities, facilitating telework, online education, participation in E-government, and formation of relationships that overcome barriers and challenges in the physical world…As more functions are available exclusively online (for example, if taxes can be filed only online and the tax website is inaccessible), individuals with disabilities are placed in an untenable situation.”25
The web is increasingly an essential resource for many aspects of life: education, employment, government, commerce, health care, recreation, social interaction, and more. The web is used not only for receiving information, but also for providing information and interacting with society. Therefore, it is essential that the web be accessible in order to provide equal access and equal opportunity to people with disabilities. Indeed, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006)26 recognizes web accessibility as a basic human right.27
How are people affected with inaccessible information, design, and communication? Jonathan Lazar and Paul Jaeger say in regard to accessible interfaces, “In the technology world, it means that your computer interface will work for people with disabilities, many of whom use an assistive technology to access software, operating systems, and websites. Commonly used assistive technologies include a screen reader, which provides computer-synthesized speech output of what appears on the screen: speech recognition, which allows for hands-free input: and various alternative keyboards and pointing devices.”28
An example of someone who has low vision (a visual impairment not correctable by standard glasses, contact lenses, medicine, or surgery), hand tremor, and mild short-term memory loss is as follows: the person is trying to read an academic article for part of their educational coursework; the person has problems reading small text (due to bad vision) and clicking on small links (due to poor dexterity and tremoring). Additionally the figures, images, and tables are not near their callouts within the text. The person’s web browser does have a zoom-in function, but when zooming in for this particular website the person has to scroll horizontally as well as vertically because the website does not fit within the browser window. It is also difficult for this person to scroll, read, then scroll again, and read some more. There are also the additional issues of having to scroll again to find the referenced figure, image, or table from within the main text. All of this results in a lot of effort and general high difficulty; the person is totally distracted from their main aim of reading text and images and from being able to complete their coursework assignment.
Another example of bad accessibility is as follows: the person is reading a book about historical events; the writing is quite academic, contains many references to previous events in history, has lots of new terms, and contains unfamiliar information. When the person is reading the chapter there is no running head on the left or right page, so they do not know what chapter and section they are in. Also when they get to the end of the chapter they have learned and remembered very little (pretty much nothing) of the chapter. The book also has only five images for 320 pages, and contains a very basic index at the back. The inability to find key points and issues raised within the text, decreased context for the information within a chapter due to lack of global navigation at the top of the book pages, no recap device at the end of chapters, a very basic index that does not allow the person to find what they require, and no timeline graphic to help get an overview of the events mentioned within the text all result in poor information retention and learning. The person bought the book only to get very little from it.
ACCESSIBILITY TRADE-OFFS AND COMPROMISES
Making something highly accessible does not mean that you have to sacrifice on aesthetic quality. From my own experience and reading, I have built up an understanding of “advisable things to do” and “less advisable things to do.” This ranges from legibility issues to white space use, to overall information amount, to technical issues, to color contrast.
Morten Rand-Hendriksen says, “Whenever the issue of web accessibility is brought up there is an immediate reaction from some web developers that accessibility is costly and/or time-consuming or complicated to implement. This is a myth. Yes, accessibility is costly if it is applied after the project is otherwise complete. But so is web standards, responsive web design, and anything else. Yes, accessibility is time consuming and complicated if you have never done it before. That’s not a reason to ignore it: It’s a reason to learn it.”29
INFORMATION ON ACCESSIBILITY
I would like to share with you some books, publications, and websites that might be of interest to you in regard to accessibility.
RNIB/ISTD Inclusive Design
In 2005 the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) and the International Society for Typographic Designers (ISTD) (both supported by the Design Council) published a guide called Inclusive Design.30 The guide provides a framework within which to work when producing typography and graphic design for people with partial sight (for example partial blindness, low-vision, or macular degeneration).
RNIB See It Right Guide
In 2007 the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) published their See It Right: Making Information Accessible for People with Sight Problems guide.31 The guide and companion CD-ROM give people the guidance necessary to meet the needs of people with sight problems in the information you provide and will help you to understand and fulfill your obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) in the UK. It shows you how to make your printed material as accessible as possible and how to produce information in formats other than print for blind and partially sighted people. Unfortunately this guide, I believe, is not kept in print, and it is now hard to find places to order it.
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
The Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) has a web page called the Web Accessibility Initiative (www.w3.org/wai/) with information on how to make websites accessible to different types of people, including information on various technological aids and devices. The website has a range of information on issues to do with text to speech, screen readers, color contrast, keyboard controls, clear layout, PDF accessibility, and more. The website also contains information about the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 and 2.0 and how to achieve level A, AA, or AAA.
RGD Accessible Design
The Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD) maintains a website, rgd-accessibledesign.com, which includes information on how to create accessible and usable graphic design in print, electronic, and environmental platforms. Areas covered range from color blindness considerations, typeface legibility issues, all-around accessibility, and usability graphic design tips to website usability.
Communicating with Older People:
Writing in Plain English Guide
Sarah Carr published a plain English writing guide for people who are ageing called Communicating with Older People: Writing in Plain English in partnership with the Plain Language Commission UK.32 What are the requirements of people who are ageing? Do they have any specific needs, and how is it best to provide written information for them?
Typeface/Font Legibility Guidelines
There is a ton of information on typeface legibility in books and journals and on the web. It is quite a technical area, and the smallest change in a letter or symbol’s design can have a huge impact. You might be interested is some writing and research from me called Letter and Symbol Misrecognition in Highly Legible Typefaces for General, Children, Dyslexic, Visually Impaired and Ageing Readers (2016, second edition).33
Jeremy Myerson and Yanki Lee, from the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at the Royal College of Art in the UK, have created this web-based resource to share ways to design with people. The website offers insights into real people and their daily activities. You can also explore design methods, explore ethical issues, and even contribute your own ideas.
USABILITY RESPONSIBILITY
Usability is about how hard or easy it is for people to use an item to accomplish a necessary action. Can they complete tasks easily with the item? Can they find what they are looking for? Another definition highlights five components of usability: learnability, efficiency, memorability, errors, and satisfaction.34 It is really about being able to achieve something with the fewest problems.
We (the designers) have a duty to make sure that our designs work well. Putting out something faulty is no good for our reputation, no good for the client, and, what is more important, is not acceptable to the users. It confuses them, creates hassle, wastes their time and effort, and takes up more resources for all involved.
How might specific situational aspects affect use?
Specific Situational Context
• Art gallery (contemplate, consider)
• Library (process large amounts of information, find)
• Using mobile phone in airport (find, locate, high pressure, language barrier)
• Driving and looking through a car’s front windscreen when it is raining (locate, identify)
• Reading terms and conditions in a busy shop (clarify, question)
• Sort out a bill when you have come home from work (scan, find, do)
• Educational book (learn, recite)
• Telephone directory (find, scan, locate, use)
• Shop sign (evaluate, proceed or not proceed)
• Reading the instructions on a child’s medicine bottle in the middle of the night, with the child screaming in the background (clarify, act safely)35
INFORMATION ON USABILITY
I would like to share with you some books, publications and websites that might be of interest to you in regard to usability:
Nielsen Norman Group
Since 1998 Jakob Nielsen and his colleagues have published a wide range of articles on usability and surrounding issues on their website www.nngroup.com/articles/.
Communication Research Institute
Setup in 1985, David Sless and his colleagues at the Communication Research Institute in Australia have published many research papers and practical case studies on their website and in various publications. Available at www.communication.org.au.
100 Things Every Designer
Needs to Know about People
Susan Weinschenk, in her book,36 explores issues of the psychology of design, how people see, how people read, how people remember, how people think, how people focus their attention, what motivates people, how people are social animals, how people feel, how people make mistakes, and how people decide.
Information Design Journal
Set up by Rob Waller in 1979, the Information Design Journal is “a peer-reviewed international journal that bridges the gap between research and practice in information design.”37
Don’t Make Me Think:
A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
This book is frequently referred to in writing from designers.38 The intention of the book is to help people learn to think like a usability expert: to ask the same questions that Steve Krug has in mind when trying to make something more usable.
According to their own description: “Usability.gov is the leading resource for user experience (UX) best practices and guidelines, serving practitioners and students in the government and private sectors. The site provides overviews of the user-centered design process and various UX disciplines. It also covers the related information on methodology and tools for making digital content more usable and useful.”39
The Center for Civic Design’s work in civic design includes “research, practical projects, and knowledge sharing through training and advocacy.” They “conduct research to understand how to create effective civic information” and “help local government officials engage citizens with well-designed materials.”40 Two important points to make in regard to usability are the experience of people with the design and the negative and positive issues from testing with people. You can consider expert opinion as one type of information, literature and reviews as another, and testing as yet another aspect.
TESTING, AND HOW WELL A DESIGN SHOULD WORK
One of the best ways to find out what is and is not working with a design is to test it with real people. The process of testing changes the path of design from linear (whereby the designer and client transmit the design and communication in a linear/straight way) to circular (whereby users are involved with the design and consulted, from transmission to conversation).41
There are various ways to test information and design, from questionnaires, observation, interviews, and eye tracking to diagnostic testing. Some are more useful than others. Why do we not routinely speak more often with and test our designs with the actual people who will use our designs? Usually graphic designers do not test their designs. Clients also rarely require or ask for user testing in design briefs, and in a recent study only 30.9 percent of clients request from designers that consideration be given to visual accessibility.42 Furthermore, educational establishments providing “graphic design” courses do not offer an introduction to testing, although you are much more likely to find a testing module in an MA “information design” course.
So in the introduction I asked what does “design that works well” involve? Let me briefly expand on this, taking a website design project as an example.
OVERALL GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION DESIGN
The website is going to need to have some kind of graphic appeal and acceptable graphic identity, the images will need to be big enough to understand and read. The typography will need to be clear and large enough so people can read it. If people do not trust or like the look of something, they are unlikely to proceed any further. Is the information in clear logical sections?
OVERALL TEXT CONTENT AND WRITING
People are going to want to be given text content that tells them about the thing. If you do not provide the information they require they may not investigate or contact you to get this information and so will go away. They are also going to want to understand the text content you have given to them.
TECHNICAL
The website is going to have to load in a reasonable amount of time. You maybe need to make sure it works on the hosting server and with a range of Internet browsers. Also the website needs to work well on smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers. You may need to edit content or code for search engines.
ACCESSIBILITY AND USABILITY
Does the design and writing exclude any people from using it? Can people use it to do what they need to? Can they proceed as expected or anticipated, or do they encounter difficulties and errors?
PEOPLE (THE WEBSITE’S USERS)
Do they like the website? Can they use it to do what they require?
CLIENT AND OTHER COLLABORATORS
Have you fulfilled what the client requires? Does it meet their needs? You are going to need to keep the client up to date with what is going on. Is the client committed to good design, or do they have another agenda? Are any external people and suppliers in the know about what is going to happen? Is the client happy with what has been done? What about regulatory affairs personnel or legal partners?
I know this list is not extensive and that there are many other aspects; it is only when you have dealt with all these issues that the design is then robust and should be able to handle the wide variety of ways that the design will be used and how people require it to perform. Failure to deal with these issues is a failure to design.
Is the success of the design for the designer to decide and judge, is it for the client to decide and judge, or both, or is it for the people (main users) of the design to decide, or all of these? David Sless and Alex Tyers of the Communication Research Institute have something to add to these questions raised (specifically in regard to medicine labeling and leaflets):
What is an acceptable level of usability?
The Australian usability guidelines for Consumer Medicines Information (CMI) (Sless and Wiseman 199743) and the European Union regulations on package inserts (European Commission 199844) suggest a minimum usability level for medicines information of 81 percent for all literate consumers. Breaking this down into its component parts, it suggests that any user should be able to find 90 percent of what they are looking for and then understand and use 90 percent of what they find (90 percent × 90 percent = 81 percent).45
CLIENT RELATIONSHIP
As designers we have a responsibility to consider what the client requires. We have a duty to understand their needs and to answer the brief (well, at least most of it). Do we answer the brief strictly or do we exercise our own intentions, feelings, and experience, or both? If we decide to not answer parts of the brief, it is always best to make a note of this and discuss it with the client. Should we do whatever the client wants? Is the client always right? Do they know best?
What type of clients are there? Well, I would like to suggest three types.
1. Good Client: A good client usually has a good understanding of what they require, and even more important is that they are open to feedback from the designer and welcome it. They also actively support an open collaborative relationship between primarily the client and designer but also between other suppliers and people involved within the project. Good clients also have a tendency to accept and value what the designer has to say, although it would be okay, and good, for the client and designer to raise concerns and be critical of each other.
Ultimately this type of client has valued and listened to the designer, or they have worked well critically and collaboratively, which has led to a good outcome for the project and all involved.
2. Mediocre Client: From a designer’s point of view, a mediocre client may be a client who, for whatever reason while working on the project, had to make compromises which have affected the quality of the work and design.
Ultimately this type of client has not always valued what the designer has to say and has suggested; some of the issues have been rejected and some of the issues have been accepted. All in all, however, issues and problems were dealt with okay and some kind of compromise had to be made, which has led to an acceptably but not great or ideal outcome for the project and all involved.
3. Bad Client: Bad clients are clients who usually have a very vague and unclear idea of what they need done; they never accept feedback or suggestions from the designer; they always know best; and they insist on everything being done their way. They also never speak of anything to do with people using their information and communication, and always use “I,” “I think this,” “I think that,” “I feel this.”
Ultimately this type of client has not valued what the designer has to say (for example, in regard to design advice); they have also disagreed and rejected almost everything the designer has suggested, which has led to a bad outcome for the project and all involved.
How important is the client within the design project? The answer is very. The client can make or break a project, so it is the designer’s job to deal with the client and any politics that arise. Rob Waller from the Simplification Centre says, “Whenever I see a designer winning a prize for an outstanding and bold piece of design, I think the client should be awarded a prize as well—for backing the designer, defending the concept, sometimes taking a risk. Every designer tells of work ruined by unprofessional and imperceptive clients.”46
Do clients ever want us (designers) to make something bad or work poorly? Do designers ever get a request to design something that will have a short life span?
SOME DESIGN TERMS (AN EXPANSION)
• Accessibility means access. It refers to the ability for everyone, regardless of disability or special needs, to access, use, and benefit from the item.
• Civic design is a practice that focuses on the common good outcomes of our communities by pulling upon all of the institutional tools in our communities, beyond our traditional sole focus on government alone.
• Design for all is another name for “inclusive design,” meaning products should be accessible to as many people as technically possible.
• Graphic communication design is like graphic design, but it now includes the word communication, which implies a whole other aspect that designers should do and be concerned with.
• Graphic design is the art or skill of combining text and pictures.
• Inclusive design is about making an item usable for everyone, regardless of age, ability, and circumstance. It is based on the simple principle that designing for the widest range of people creates better designs and benefits everyone.
• Information design typically refers to complex user-oriented graphic communication design (forms design, labeling, wayfinding systems, pictograms, bills, and statements), which also includes aspects of content editing (writing, clear language), testing with people, and psychology. Typically graphic designers do not edit text or graphic content, but information designers do.
• Legibility refers to whether people are able to see, distinguish, and recognize the characters and words.
• Plain English is clear and unambiguous written language, without the use of technical or difficult terms.
• Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context.
• Readability is concerned with how easily you can read a block or page of text (the overall layout and whitespace).
• Responsive design is an approach to web page creation that makes use of flexible layouts, and the building of web pages that detect the visitor’s screen size and orientation and change the layout accordingly for desktop, tablet, or mobile screens.
• Social design improves human well-being and livelihood through design.
• Sustainable design seeks to reduce negative impacts on the environment; to reduce consumption of nonrenewable resources; to minimize waste; and to create healthy, productive environments.
• Transformational design is about human-centered, interdisciplinary processes that seek to create desirable and sustainable changes in behavior and form—of individuals, systems, and organizations—often for socially progressive ends.
• Universal design refers to whether a design can be accessed, understood, and used to the greatest extent possible by all people regardless of their age, size, ability, or disability.
• Usability refers to how quickly and easily people are able to accomplish tasks with an item.
• Usability testing refers to evaluating a product or service by testing it with people. Typically, during a test, participants will try to complete typical tasks.
• User experience is the overall experience of a person using a product such as a website or computer application, especially in terms of how easy or pleasing it is to use.
[1] Adobe. 2017. What is accessibility? www.adobe.com/accessibility/gettingstarted.html.
[2] World Health Organisation. 2001. Age Standardization of Rates: A New Who Standard, GPE Discussion Paper Series: No. 31.2, 12, table 4. www.who.int/healthinfo/paper31.pdf.
[3] Pennington, B. F. 1991. Diagnosing Learning Disorders: A Neuropsychological Framework. New York: Guilford Press.
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