Art & Accessibility
Everyone learns differently. While reading might be the default for some, it might not be for others. In building this guide, I thought, how can I make art as accessible for everyone.
Accessibility was top of mind when I was building the guide. By harnessing the power of the phone, it was already in part built in.
Hearing / Hard of Hearing
Some people process better auditorily vs reading. And so bringing information on a painting / work of art via audio I felt aided to that ability. Plus you can capture so much more information then what's available on a physical wall, display.
Modern hearing aids often connect via bluetooth to phones; enabling people with hearing loss to be able to listen to the audio automatically. There's nothing to setup or do—it's already built-in.
Loss of Hearing
A transcription of the audio is provided on the page, providing the same information with the ability to hear to absorb the same information.
Hard of Sight
Modern phones automatically increase the font size of the phone's display and the corresponding text. The Art Access Guide is built to WCAG AA standards, whereby the text on the screen can increase to 200% of the default size and everything is intact.
The buttons and text can further be screen read via the phone's technology.
Neurodivergent / Ways of Processing Information
With the guide being self-automated, a guest can listen to the audio once, twice, five times if they need to. The progress bar allows someone to jump to a particular section to re-listen.
Also because it's a website, someone can leave the museum and still re-listen & read the information, processing it when it is in a more comfortable space for them to do it.
Art & Art Information for everyone
Art & Accessibilty are interwined. Art is for everyone.