Neurodivergent Design
How does neurodivergent/accessible design help people?
Creating designs that are visually accessible to neurodivergent and visually impaired people is crucial for several reasons, primarily to ensure inclusivity, accessibility, and effective communication. For people with conditions like dyslexia, autism, and ADHD, tailored design considerations can significantly impact their ability to process information, engage with content, and navigate digital spaces with greater ease.
Here's how designing with these groups in mind helps:
General Benefits
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Inclusivity: By considering the needs of neurodivergent and visually impaired individuals, designs become more inclusive, allowing a wider audience to access and benefit from the content.
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Legal Compliance: Many regions have laws and guidelines around digital accessibility. Designing with accessibility in mind helps in complying with these regulations.
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Broader Reach: Accessible designs can reach a broader audience, including those who might not be neurodivergent or visually impaired, by improving overall usability and user experience.
1. Dyslexia
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Simplified Reading Experience: Utilizing fonts that are easier to read and spacing text appropriately can help individuals with dyslexia process information more efficiently. Avoiding tightly packed text and using clear, consistent layouts can reduce reading errors and frustration.
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Enhanced Comprehension: Implementing high contrast between text and background, alongside minimizing overly complex or decorative fonts, aids in reading comprehension. These design choices can help reduce the effort required to decipher words and sentences, leading to a better overall understanding of the content.
2. Autism
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Predictable Navigation: Individuals with autism often benefit from predictable and consistent layouts and interactions. Designing digital spaces that avoid unpredictable changes or overly stimulating elements can make navigation more comfortable and less anxiety-inducing.
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Clear Visual Cues: Using clear, straightforward imagery and visual cues can help in conveying information without relying heavily on textual descriptions. This approach can assist individuals with autism in processing information more effectively, especially when abstract concepts are involved.
3. ADHD
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Focused Attention: Designs that minimize distractions and emphasize key information help individuals with ADHD maintain focus. Strategic use of color and whitespace can guide attention to important details without overwhelming the user.
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Interactive Elements: Incorporating engaging and interactive elements can also be beneficial for users with ADHD, making it easier to stay engaged with the content. However, it's important to balance interactivity with simplicity to avoid creating unnecessary distractions.
Incorporating accessibility into design not only enhances the experience for individuals with specific needs but also contributes to creating a more empathetic and user-friendly digital environment for everyone. As a graphic designer or digital marketer, incorporating these principles can expand your reach and positively impact your audience's engagement with your content.
How do I make my designs visually accessible?
Designing for neurodivergent and visually impaired individuals is an essential aspect of creating inclusive and accessible experiences. By considering their unique needs and providing suitable solutions, we can ensure that everyone can fully engage with and benefit from our designs. These are some of the things I consider when designing:
Fonts
Choosing the right font for a neurodiverse audience is challenging. Using "humanist" fonts can help dyslexic readers. Avoid serif fonts, and consider type size, spacing, and capitalization. Consult a neurodiverse designer if your brand targets this community.
Colour
Colour is essential for visual readability and accommodating sensory differences. As a graphic designer, I use colour strategically to guide viewers and evoke emotions. For dyslexic people, reducing colour contrast can alleviate reading difficulties but avoid reducing too much as visually impaired individuals need a higher percentage of contrast, it's about finding the perfect balance, I always ensure the colour pallets I create for neurodiverse brands pass the AAA colour contrast ratio score, the contrast ratio of 7:1 was chosen for level AAA because it compensates for the loss in contrast sensitivity usually experienced by users with vision loss equivalent to approximately 20/80 vision. Autistic viewers may have sensitivities to certain colours, so designers should consider colour restrictions and triggers. We can use colour in a variety of ways to suit your target audience and evoke the desired feelings in accordance.
Use of icons
Visual aids like icons and images help with text comprehension and structure. They benefit neurodivergent individuals, but it's important to use them strategically. Too many images can confuse readers, and text over graphics can make it harder to understand.
Format and visual hierarchy
Individuals with neurodivergent conditions require a distinct visual hierarchy to facilitate their understanding, especially those with ADHD who tend to overlook information that requires comprehensive reading. While catering to neurodivergent individuals, it is imperative to ensure that they can identify the top three content elements solely based on their colour, shape, and placement. This also aids visually impaired people to be able to easily identify the subject matter of a graphic.
As a neurodivergent individual myself, I know the challenges that arise when reading text or viewing graphics. People with ADHD, Dyslexia, Autism, and other conditions face unique difficulties, but neurotypical individuals also encounter common issues. My goal is to create inclusive designs that are easy to read and recall, making the lives of visually impaired and neurodivergent individuals a little easier.
Check out my client 'ADHD Advantage' an example of a neurodiverse brand I created and check out 'Inflow' for an example of neurodiverse social media graphics I created.
Enquire today:
Contact me today to arrange a completely FREE discovery call where you can tell me all about your brand and I can let you know what I could offer you to make your brand strategically designed, visually accessible and neurodivergent friendly.