IGNITE DIGITAL AGENDA
Accessibility Project
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Project Summary
IGNITE Student Union is the voice for approximately 30,000 students across all of Humber College and the University of Guelph-Humber's campuses.
IGNITE produces between 20,000 to 28,000 printed copies of the student agenda annually. In 2020, due to COVID-19, the college and university campuses were closed, putting the agenda project to a halt. IGNITE's initial priority was to continue to deliver essential student services remotely. Once they settled into efficiency, they asked their students if they would like to receive a digital version, and students answered yes.
The project comprised of a limited print run for programs that must continue on campus and a digital version to distribute to all students.
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Led and managed the fast-tracked creation and accessible design of both the digital agenda and printed handbook version.
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Myself - Project Lead
Graphic Designer - Remote direct report
Collaborative check-ins with Communications & Marketing team
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June-August 2020, 2 months
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Create a digital, editable agenda that is accessible to all students. More important now than ever.
Use Assumptions
Gmail was near top of the
list for most used app
However…
Paper isn’t going anywhere.
Overall Challenges
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Tools
Google Slides
Grackle Docs (accessibility plug-in
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Timeline
Under two months to create and test digital files and create print files.
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Usability
Ensure downloadable PDF version includes all or as many as possible features as online Google version.
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Accessibiliity
Design & layout faces aesthetic restrictions
Must follow specific layouts to allow optimization for screen readers
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Content
Minimum AD specs required by contract agreements
Limitations to editing/altering college and university content
Key Challenges
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Must incorporate a tool students already used to avoid user frustrations by requiring a learning curve for students, especially upon start of fall semester.
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Embeddable as a link in onboarding Fall & Winter semester Orientation emails sent to all Humber College & UofGH students.
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Downloadable as a PDF and retain majority, if not all accessibility and usability features.
Solution:
Google Slides
Already a widely used tool by students
Those who use Google accounts do not require an additional sign up
Easy sign up for new Google users OR PDF download as alternative
Accessible for free
By using a lean approach
testing "prototype" slides first proved to be an efficient process. This allowed for:
Quick, real-time editing for next iteration
Focus on problem slides that required more time on designing layout
Troubleshooting and testing for anchored & external URL links
Key Accessibility Challenges
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Alt-Text
Alt-text descriptions must be added to all uploaded images to ensure maximal usability for anyone requiring use of screen reader
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Solution
Copy and paste pre-edited descriptions to save editing time and uploading errors
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8 ITERATIONS
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Font Sizes & Colours
Readability of font sizes and colours compromised functionality and use of table cell space
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Solution
Create table cells directly within Slides and create grid-style weekly pages to condense number of pages
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10 ITERATIONS
Digital agenda layout example
Development Sketches
Example Google Slide sketches for editable solutions & content layout optimized for accessible features to enabled.
In order to meet the August launch deadline, we used the designed pages of the print version. In order to condense 96 pages for a digital version and allow for screen readers accessibility, calendar weeks were converted into grid-style layout.
We ensured that elements such as Table of Contents page numbers…
were anchored to their corresponding pages to simulate a simple, interactive experience.
The highlighted and underlined page numbers helped create a more intuitive experience.
Post Launch Learnings
Digital Version Used
Group of 25 students were surveyed regarding the use of IGNITE's first digital agenda, 80% preferred PDF version.
Usefulness
Total of 43.4% found the digital version useful, out of which 13% found it very useful.
Key Learnings
The Google & PDF versions allowed for a testing ground to research a more efficient and accessibly advanced digital option.
Sparked an independent research project initiative for the Communications & Marketing team.
Introduced insights for usability & accessibility roadmaps for future digital agendas.