Browsing by Subject "web design"
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Item Accessible Web Typography for the Visually Impaired(2018-05) McCoy, Erica; Summers, Kathryn; Kohl, Deborah; Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences, Division of Science, Information Arts, and Technologies; Interaction Design & Information ArchitectureBackground: Visual impairments affect millions of people worldwide. Accessible web typography is important in ensuring online legibility for this diverse group of users to help them maintain their independence. However, existing typographic guidelines are based heavily on best practices, with supported research based largely on printed typography, and rarely considers the needs of visually impaired users. The purpose of this research is to investigate which elements of typography have the most impact on visually impaired users in an effort to work towards more accessible typographic guidelines. Method: An in-depth analysis of existing online typography trends found that even with copious resources available web designers are often not adhering to typographic guidelines. This analysis helped build a solid foundation for experimental research with visually impaired users by providing insight into how typography is actually being used on the web. In response, both line height and font size were tested for their effects on simulated macular degeneration. A second experiment tested line height across three other simulated visual impairment types. Results: This study did not show significant effects on legibility for simulated macular degeneration based on font size, although error rate was nearly twice as high for smaller font sizes. Increased line height did significantly reduce the error rate for simulated macular degeneration. When increased line height was tested across other simulated visual impairments, the improvment was not statistically significant. However, this study should be repeated with a within-subjects design before these results are considered fully reliable. Conclusions: As past research has indicated, there may not be one solution for typography that fits in in regards to visually impaired users. Accomodations for the needs of one user may work against the needs of another user. With online access essential to daily tasks, though, it’s important to consider how visually impaired users interact with the web and continue to explore how enhancements to typography can benefit the distinct needs of these users.Item Free Stock Website(2018-12) Keiser, Elizabeth; Crowley, Michael; Berstein, Andrew; Digital ArtsChikkenstock.com was created for non-profit organizations and small local businesses. The goal of creating Chikkenstock was to provide a license-free stock website that focuses on assisting small, community-oriented organizations that are functioning with limited resources. The organizations that participated in the launch and trial of this site all had similar missions involving charity, conservation, and the community enrichment of the Lehigh Valley, a region comprised of the Pennsylvania metropolitan areas of Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton.Item Synesthesia for Universal Design: An exploratory thesis on synesthesia as a potential method for universal design.(2020-05-01) Thompson-Koch, Layla; Power, Ian; Rhee, Megan; Rubeling, Lori; University of Baltimore. School of Communications Design; Master of Fine Arts in Integrated DesignThe objective of this thesis aimed to explore a methodology in which participants pair sound to abstract paintings by extracting compositional elements in the form of color and shape from those paintings and pairing them with sound elements of pitch and timbre. The selection of sound choices were based on experiences from a select number of chromesthetes to use as a control to discover if the general public will make the same sound to color associations as those select chromesthetes in order to raise awareness of synesthesia and apply this knowledge in creating multisensory experiences and environments for universal design practice. An online testing environment was created using compositional elements (color and shape) from abstract paintings in which 5 sound options relating to pitch or instrument were provided. One of these options was used as the chromesthete control option. Based on participant responses, each question was evaluated to determine if the majority of participants chose the chromesthete control. If the chromesthete control was not the majority chosen option, additional analysis was completed to understand if there was an accord for one option over others. Ultimately, results were low, in most instances below 40% uniamity. Sound choices were dispersed for many questions, of which the highest agreement in sound choice was 20%.