Accessible Archives: Case Study 3

Accessible Design: Prompts & Principles

Accessible Design:
Prompts & Princples

How might we consider accessibility throughout the entire process of any design discipline?

Timeline

January to April 2021

Domains

Accessible Design

Participatory Design

Role

UX Researcher

Co-Designer

Rhema Gabriela

Problem

Accessibility is commonly treated as an afterthought in design processes. The lack of accessible design considerations during end-to-end processes consequently excludes a large audience of people with disabilities and lead to surface-level solutions.

Design Challenge

How might we reframe our thinking to consider accessibility throughout the design process shared across various disciplines?

Goal

Develop prompts and principles that guide and inspire innovation in a direction that is inclusive to minority groups.

Design Thinking Framework

We created a framework that focuses on fostering inclusivity through a user-centered approach and remain open to diverse mediums and disciplines. Based on this framework, we developed prompts and principles that stimulate creative exploration and concept development with considerations for accessibility at an abstract and technical level.

Design Process

We reviewed and identified patterns across 6 case studies conducted throughout two terms of the Re-Imagining Access studio class. As a result of interviewing instructors, observing studio classes, and many affinity diagramming sessions, we were able to develop prompts and principles.

Discover

User Research

Stakeholder Research

Observational Studies

Define

User Scenarios

Use Cases

Develop

Concrete Questions

Abstract Questions

Participatory Workshops

Storyboards

Wireframes

Deliver

Prompts

Principles

Studio Visit

We had two opportunities to visit a studio class during midterms and finals to observe how our accessibility design prompts and principles can be applied in student projects.

Prompts and Principles

From 6 case studies, we reviewed the scenarios and turned them into user stories. Then we mapped them out to concrete questions to abstract prompts, which later grouped into overarching principles.

Next Steps

With this research, we plan to create condensed, bite-sized information graphics that the design community can easily access at any given moment during their creative process.