Accessibility and inclusive design
Accessibility is at the heart of everything that Futurum does. Solving today’s many global challenges requires a range of perspectives. To benefit us all, opportunities to be part of the solutions must be accessible to everyone. It is vital, therefore, that our resources – which highlight problems and how people are striving to solve them – are accessible to as many different people as possible.
Through our resources, we want students to ‘meet’ experts they would otherwise not come into contact with, learn about current research, understand its impact, and know that they too belong in the world of STEM and SHAPE. That’s why we’re working hard to make Futurum’s accessibility more than just a ticked box, and here’s how:
An accessible platform
We are always talking to academics and have been lucky enough to have had conversations with those researching the needs of differently abled people in accessing and making use of the internet. As a result, we have added the accessiBe widget (a white figure in a blue circle) to every page on the Futurum website:
With a simple click of an on/off tab or an up/down arrow, this brilliant tool enables you and anyone you are supporting with their learning to make the helpful adjustments needed to make our content more accessible.
From setting the screen to the ‘ADHD Friendly Profile’ that reduces distractions and helps you focus on what you want to focus on,…
to lowering saturation…
to adjusting line height…
…to many other options, the accessiBe widget is there to allow you to take control of how you access the Futurum website.
A range of resources
We want students to be inspired by whichever resource format they prefer, be it written text, audio or visual, which is why we also produce career PowerPoints, podcasts (accompanied by PowerPoints and transcripts) and animations (accompanied by scripts).
Content and design
We pride ourselves in providing teachers and students with challenging and stimulating information about current research. This means that the content of our educational brochures is often complex – which is why our brochures include glossaries, informative images and text broken down under clear headings and in ‘box outs’. We want students to be wowed by what they are reading, not overwhelmed.
The ‘talking points’ on our activity sheets also help students to reflect on what they have read and to think a little deeper about the issues. Accessibility requires time and prompts for students to read, think and digest!
Following a teacher focus group, we have also increased the font size we use for our brochures and magazine. A simple but effective change that makes the text more accessible, without detracting from the quality of the content.
Accessibility checks
Lastly, we are now ensuring all our downloadable resources meet established accessibility standards. This enables people with differing abilities, particularly those using screen readers or other assistive technologies, to easily access and navigate our PDF content. Digita11y Accessible highlights the key elements of an accessible PDF:
- Text readability: ensuring that text is presented in a format readable by screen readers
- Logical structure: using tags to define the structure and reading order of the document
- Alternative text for non-text elements: providing descriptions for images and other non-text elements
- Navigable and interactive elements: making links, forms and other interactive features usable with assistive technologies
- Colour and contrast considerations: ensuring that colour choices and contrast ratios are suitable for users with visual impairments*.
As Sophia Kerby, Futurum’s Senior Graphic Designer explains, “In an era where digital content is so important, the term ‘accessibility’ is a crucial element of inclusive design. Accessible graphic design helps ensure that our content looks great but is also easy to navigate. Creating an accessible PDF can be challenging, but it is a vital step in audience engagement and provides a better user experience.”
Futurum will always look to find ways of getting our resources in front of more young people – and of making them as engaging and accessible as possible. If you have any suggestions of how we can improve our accessibility even further, please let us know.
*https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-pdf-accessibility-why-does-matter-digita11yaccessible-4snic/