Locked World
My Role
- UX lead
- UI design
About
Fine Day Studio project
Summary
Glasgow-based Birds of Paradise Theatre Company approached Fine Day to create a highly accessible digital platform to display artworks from emerging disabled artists.
Our approach
From the start of the project we were exploring new and exciting ways to create an immersive online experience that is accessible to anyone – with or without access requirements. Instead of simply checking off boxes from accessibility guidelines we set our focus on the people interacting with the platform and how they feel when doing so.
Development
For our work on this project it was very important to us to closely involve the artists and people from the BOP community in the process to develop something that is as close to the audience and people as possible.
Concept & structure
The outcome of the research phase established that flexibility would be the key ingredient for the success of the website. The idea of allowing visitors to turn specific features on instead of them struggling to find a way to disable them became the overarching theme for the next steps.
By loosely following the concept of ‘Brutalist Web Design’ we started with a plainly coded core version of the website and added all additional features layer by layer. This gave us the flexibility to individually access and deactivate every feature to ensure a maximum level of accessibility.
Visual approach
Through our conversations with BOP we established that the key visuals of the experience should be a brain and the spinal cord. The idea was to display the contrast of the medical and social concepts of disability.
We used abstracted medical drawings and psychological concepts to develop the visual appearance and the navigational approach throughout the website.
Usability testing
We conducted several rounds of usability tests throughout the project with a variety of people from the target audience. A focus of the sessions was to assess the accessibility of the website which meant we mainly ran sessions with people with disabilities.
Test outcome
While the first usability tests focussed around general navigation and content distribution, we were able to address more in depth and detailed usability issues in the later sessions.
Library navigation adjustments
Library access key adjustments
Final outcome
At it's launch, Locked World hosted 4 artworks, a fully stacked library, a sensory space and various ways for the visitors to interact with the platform and leave their own impression and feelings.
Access first
When developing Locked World accessibility and inclusion weren’t an afterthought but core contributors to the design and development decisions.
The access panel guides the visitor through multiple customisation steps to ensure the optimal experience for everyone and is always available via the menu to change the settings.
Typography
The main typeface used for the website is 'Inconstant Regular' developed by Norwegian designer Daniel Brosktad in close collaboration with Dyslexia Scotland. It perfectly suited our visual approach and has been designed specifically for people with dyslexia.
Artworks
In order to make the artworks on the website as accessible as possible a range of accessibility options support the various submissions. All videos have creatively embedded subtitles or BSL and a transcript that follows the video timeline and can be turned off or on. Artworks in text form have additional plain language summaries as well as text and video footnotes to support the content.
The spaces
Locked World is split up in separate spaces which are all accessible via the brain or the menu.
Every section is associated with a distinct area of the brain and placed there on the home page. Information about the location and how it connects to other areas can be found on every page.
The brain
The brain is the core of Locked World and the main access point to navigate to the most important sections of the platform.
The library
The library hosts a variety of content offering information about disability and accessibility. The content is organised by time rather than topic and loosely follows the concept of mental time travel.
The sensory space
The sensory space offers the visitor a room to relax or receive stimulation. The audiovisual experience can be customised to everyones specific needs to adjust the speed, amount and intesity of the moving objects.
