This document discusses universal design and creating media that is accessible to all people through progressive enhancement and multiple modes of access. It provides examples of making a website, video, and augmented reality game accessible to sight impaired, hearing impaired, and cognitively impaired individuals. The key strategies discussed are using semantic HTML for screen readers, subtitles, audio descriptions, high contrast text, and separate accessible versions. The goal is to design media that is attainable on common devices like cell phones and can be consumed simultaneously by people with and without disabilities.

1. .Enhance Progressively .
.Make It Universal.
.Make It Accessible.
.Make It Attainable.
Media that is accessible and better for
everyone . . .
by
Universal
Design

2. .Progressive.
.Enhancement.
Universal Design
by
Create the content in a visual
narrative form that can be navigated
and understood as text alone that
can be read or heard (semantic
design). Then Enhance the
experience with graphics,
illustration, motion and additional
audio. This enhancement will
engage more parts of the brain for
those that can receive it through
their available senses and physical
abilities.
Universal Design

3. by
Universal Design
.Progressive.
.Enhancement.
“Let’s hit the lights and do a
mic check”
This text is written in ‘visual
narrative’ form. It carries
the baseline ‘what & where’
information. Video and
audio are enhancements for
those with the senses to
engage them.
Listen to audio text that can be heard by sight impaired
Watch visual text that can be read by hearing impaired
This Is The Diatribe Video..

4. by
Universal Design
.Progressive.
.Enhancement.
This is a look at the
semantic version of The
EPIC Project website. It’s
what screen readers
used by the sight
impaired ‘sees’. Menu
systems, headers, links, and
image tags are all optimized
to make the site useful for
them.
The EPIC Project Website.

5. by
Universal Design
.Progressive.
.Enhancement.
In this explainer animation for
Mental Health America, we
started with written text that
could deliver the content,
then integrated it into the
animation. This allows
hearing-impaired and
hearing-abled to watch it
together in a way that is
more natural than sub-titles.
Anxiety Animation.
Watch the full video below (1:42)

6. by
Universal Design
.Progressive.
.Enhancement.
This in-progress, place-based
adventure game fills the
Grand Rapids Public Museum
with people from the past
through an animated,
augmented reality app. So far
we have strategies for
hearing, neuro, mobility,
technology, and speech. A
good strategy for the sight
impaired remains elusive,
however
Old Streets Adventure.

7. .Universal.
.Design.
Universal Design
by
Responsive design maximizes the
user experience for multiple modes
of access. The media can respond
to the user no matter what their
permanent or temporary disability
may be. This approach inevitably
leads to a better experience for
abled persons as well. Universal
design allows disabled persons to
participate in society as full
members alongside their abled
counterparts.
Universal Design

8. by
Universal Design
Anxiety
.Universal.Design.
Subtitles can help abled
people view video in
situations where sound is
inappropriate and with
hearing impaired friends.
Abled and disabled both
benefit and can consume
media together.
Watching Instagram video with subtitles on the bus
This Is The Diatribe Video..

9. by
Universal Design
Anxiety
.Universal.Design.
The Diatribe video is
cropped into a format that is
letterboxed with black bars
top and bottom. This allows
for the subtitles to fit below
the video without
covering it.
This Is The Diatribe Video..

10. by
Universal Design
Anxiety
.Universal.Design.
Visual hierarchy helps the
viewer/user focus on the
content or navigation as it
is presented from frame to
frame, and screen to
screen. This is good for
everyone and especially
important for the
permanently and temporarily
cognitively impaired.
This Is The Diatribe Video..

11. by
Universal Design
Anxiety
.Universal.Design.
Visual flow helps the
viewer/user focus on the
content or navigation as
it is presented from
camera shot to camera
shot. This is good for
everyone and especially
important for the
permanently and temporarily
cognitively impaired.
Video Clip
Video Clip
Video Clip
This Is The Diatribe Video..

12. by
Universal Design
.Universal.Design.
A clear visual hierarchy is
attained by using rows with
clearly blocked
organization and
headings.
Black text boxes highlight
the most important
information . Color is added
to areas where it will not
interfere with hierarchy.
The EPIC Project Website.

13. by
Universal Design
.Universal.Design.
High contrast text
maximizes readability for
persons with low vision
as well as situations
where bright light
washes-out the screen.
The EPIC Project Website.

14. by
Universal Design
.Universal.Design.
Color schemes should
work for all types of color
deficiencies. The NoCoffee
Chrome plugin, Photoshop,
and other software can
simulate many of these
while during the design
process.
Designing for an attractive
and readable version in
grayscale is job one. That is
the lowest common
denominator.
The EPIC Project Website.

15. by
Universal Design
.Universal.Design.
The game is played by
teams of three. This will
provide opportunities for a
variety of hearing, neuro,
mobility, and speech
impaired persons to
provide human aid to
each other. What form this
takes for the sight impaired
remains elusive at this point
in the development
Old Streets Adventure.

16. .Accessible.
.Design.
Universal Design
by
Accessible design provides one or
more alternative and separate
versions of media that are
specifically targeted for persons
with specific disabilities. Though
this separates the disabled from
simultaneous media consumption
with their abled counterparts, it is
sometimes the only method
available due to technology,
distribution or budget constraints.
Universal Design

17. by
Universal Design
Anxiety
.Accessible Design.
A transcript of the ‘This Is
The Diatribe’ video can be
used to provide the text to
an abled or hearing
impaired person that does
not have access to a digital
device or internet access
that is fast enough to play
the video.
It is written in a visual
narrative style to help them
understand the visual ‘what’
and ‘where’ of the story.
Visual Narrative Writing Samples
“Let’s hit the lights and do a mic check”
“We share our stories and inspire openness and
vulnerability in auditoriums during assemblies”
“We give students the tools to write and share
their own stories in the classroom.”
This Is The Diatribe.

18. by
Universal Design
.Accessible.Design.
Information regarding The
EPIC Project can be
accessed by the sight
impaired through the
audio in the embedded
video. This audio covers
most of the content that is
contained in the whole
website.
The EPIC Project Website.

19. by
Universal Design
.Accessible.Design.
We created a separate
video version for the sight
impaired with Audio
Descriptions for them to be
able to understand what is
happening visually.
Anxiety Animation.
Watch the audio described video below (length: 2:53)

20. by
Universal Design
.Accessible.Design.
One idea for sight impaired
engagement is that they can
listen to the AR animations
and participate in the clue
analysis. However, to do
that, a team mate would
need to say the items aloud.
However, there are more of
those than most people can
hold in working memory.
Eight in total, and working
memory holds four to five.
Old Streets Adventure.
watch the AR videos below (length: 4:24)
There is a clue spoken at the end of each segment

21. .Attainable.
.Design.
Universal Design
by
The attainability of information has
been supercharged by digital
hardware and networks that can
deliver searchable media containing
text, audio, animation, video, and
interactivity in a singular product.
Universal Design

22. by
Universal Design
Anxiety
.Attainable.Design.
The cell phone is the
lowest common
denominator.
If a household owns only
one digital device, it is
probably a cell phone. Video
can deliver text, audio and
visual media, and that
allows simultaneous multiple
modes of access.
It’s no wonder that cell phone video is popular.
This Is The Diatribe Video..

23. by
Universal Design
.Attainable.Design.
The site is optimized for
maximum distribution
because:
● The layout responds to
any device size by
reconfiguring its layout.
● It uses compressed,
flat-color graphics that
ensure rapid loading
speed on 3g networks
● The the website and
video formats are
compatible with all web
browsers.
The EPIC Project Website.

24. by
Universal Design
.Attainable.Design.
Game players will be be
able to pick up a game
kit at the front desk of the
museum. It will include:
● Tablets with the game
installed,
● tallier sheets
● maps
● Pencils
● clipboards
Old Streets Adventure.

25. .Inclusive.
.Socio-Emotional.
.Entertaining.
.Universal.
Making media that is . . .
media production framework
Contact: lead.bill.fischer@gmail.com
with collaboration or consulting
inquires
i-see-u.info

26. .Workshop:.
.Sight Impaired.
.Engagement.
.For Old Streets.
by
Ideas needed for:
● Map Reading & Rules
● Traveling
● Interacting with AR
● Deciphering Clues
● Finding Items In
Shops
● Recording Item
Prices
● Tallying Prices
Universal Designview the project presentation
Tools Available:
● high end digital tablet
● Paper tallier sheet
● Paper map with rules
● 2 other team members
● Teacher
● Anything else you can
think of