The document provides an overview of universal design, which aims to make products and environments usable by all people without need for adaptation. It defines universal design and discusses its origins. The document outlines benefits like reaching wider audiences and preventing segregation. Drivers of interest in universal design include accessibility laws and changing demographics. Real-world examples of universal design principles in physical environments are provided.

1. Universal Design – An Overview
 Introduction
Howard Kramer – hkramer@colorado.edu
www.accessinghigherground.org
Slides available at: slideshare.org/hkramer99

2. Powerpoint Posted at:
http://slideshare.com/hkramer99
and on D2L

3. Today’s Outline
 What is Universal Design?
 What are its benefits?
 What factors are driving the
interest and implementation of
Universal Design?
 Real world examples of UD

4. Key Concept
User Centered Design
How does it relate to UD?

5. Universal Design – Origins &
Definition
 What is Universal Design?
 Universal design is the design of products
and environments to be usable by all
people, to the greatest extent possible,
without the need for adaptation or
specialized design. – Ron Mace, Architect,
Product Designer, Educator

6. UD Defined – variations on a theme
 …[T]he practice of designing products or
environments that can be effectively and efficiently
used by people with a wide range of abilities
operating in a wide range of situations
(Vanderheiden, 1997, p. 2014).
 …[B]uilding products that are robust and
accommodating. Universal designs take account of
differences in sight, hearing, mobility, speech, and
cognition. Universal design helps not only people
with disabilities, but also any of us when we’re
tired, busy, or juggling many tasks (Francik, 1996).

7. UD Defined – variations on a theme
 …[T]he design of products and
environments to be usable by all people, to
the greatest extent possible, without the
need for adaptation or specialized design.
The intent of universal design is to simplify
life for everyone by making products,
communications, and the built environment
more usable by as many people as possible
at little or no extra cost. Universal design
benefits people of all ages and abilities
(Center for Universal Design, n.d.).

8. Beyond the Physical
Environment
 Universal Design for Digital Media
 Text equivalents for graphics
 Resizable font, adequate contrast, user-controllable
styles
 Captioning for multimedia
 Clear and consistent navigation
 Universal Design for Learning
 Multiple means of representation
 Multiple means of action & expression
 Multiple means of engagement

9. Universal Design vs. Accessibility
 Universal design, or design for inclusion, is a
process to ensure that E&IT is inclusive, accessible,
and usable by everyone, including people with
disabilities.
 Accessible design is a step forward when developing
E&IT products, but it tends to lead to technologies
that will be used separately, or in addition to, the
main E&IT product, which diminishes the
effectiveness of designing for all.
*From “Design for Inclusion: Creating a New Marketplace.”
National Council on Disability (2004)

10. Picture from IDeA Center – the Goals of UD
http://udeworld.com/dissemination/presentations.html

11. From the IDeA Center – The Goals of UD
http://udeworld.com/dissemination/presentations.html

12. Who is our Audience*
 People with disabilities are at a high risk of
exclusion. Other consumer groups are also at
risk. They are—
 Individuals 65+ years old
 Consumers living in low-bandwidth information
infrastructures
 People who never learned to read
 Users of English as a Second Language (ESL)
 Tourists and people living in multilingual societies
 Consumers living in high-density populations
*From “Design for Inclusion: Creating a New Marketplace.”
National Council on Disability (2004)

13. NCD Report – Key Finding
 Designing with access in mind can
significantly increase the size of
targeted markets for electronic and
information technology (E&IT).

14. “Situational Disability”
Captioning in Stroller at Driving
noisy room curbcut

15. 7 Principles of Universal Design

16. 7 Principles of Universal Design
 Equitable Use
 Flexibility in Use
 Simple and Intuitive Use
 Perceptible Information
 Tolerance for Error
 Low Physical Effort
 Size and Space for Approach and Use

17. Universal Design Examples
in the physical environment
 Avoid stairs
 Split level floors,
sunken surfaces

18. Picture from IDeA Center – the Goals of UD
http://udeworld.com/dissemination/presentations.html

19. From the IDeA Center – The Goals of UD
http://udeworld.com/dissemination/presentations.html

20. From the IDeA Center – The Goals of UD
http://udeworld.com/dissemination/presentations.html

21. Curbless
Showers

22.  The closed fist
test.

23. Visual Cues
 Equitable
 Flexible
 Simple & Intuitive
 Perceptible
 Tolerance for error
 Low physical effort
 Size & space
appropriate

24. The Benefits UD
 Reach a wider audience
 Prevents segregation of users to different products,
environments and services
 Make your products, environments and services more
usable for everyone and thus more effective
 Allows access to global markets
 Encourages user-centered design which leads to
better designed products
 Makes your products more universal & thus more
valuable
 Can promote the development of innovative
technologies

25. The Semantic Web – Definitions
 Semantics (from Greek sēmantiká, neuter plural of
sēmantikós - signifier)[1][2] is the study of meaning. It
focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as
words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand
for, their denotata.1
 The Semantic Web describes the relationships
between things (like A is a part of B and Y is a
member of Z) and the properties of things (like size,
weight, age, and price)2
1 Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantics
2 http://www.w3schools.com/web/web_semantic.asp

26. http://www.colorado.edu/ODECE/UDAC/physic
s%20page-2.htm

27. The Benefits of Web Standards
 Makes it easier for people & search engines to find
your content – (including AT users)
 Separating structure and behavior makes your site
easier and less expensive to develop & test. (And
much easier to update).
 Makes your site lighter (smaller file size)
 Semantic markup makes your site more accessible to
different kinds of browsers and devices, incl. mobile
devices and AT
 Designing with standards in ensures that your site is
forward compatible.

28. What’s Driving Interest in UD
 Access as a civil right
 Section 508 of Rehab. Act.
 ADA
 International Laws
 Demographics
 1 in 5 people in the U.S. has a disability
 1 in 10 have a severe disability
 2003 – 36 million aged 65+ in U.S. (about 12% of pop.)
 50% have disability
 2030 – 70 million 65+ (20% of pop.)
 Globalization | Emerging Markets
 Tourism | immigration | globalization
 More non-English or non-readers

29. Demographics – who is our audience?
 Do we design with  Non-mouse user
the user in mind?
 If so, who is our  Screen Reader (Blind)
“user.” user
 Use of two hands, the  Screen enlargement
vision and hearing of (low vision)
a typical 20-year old  Deaf user
 English speaking  iPhone user (or other
 Desktop/laptop user mobile browsing
device)

30. Zeldman – “the blind billionaire”
 Google and other
search engines are, in
effect, “blind users.”
 Structure
 Text/semantics

31. Curriculum  Chisholm, Wendy; May, Matt.
Materials Universal Design for Web
Applications
 Zeldman, Jeffrey. Designing with
Web Standards (3rd Edition)
 Shea & Holzschlag. The Zen of CSS
Design: Visual Enlightenment for the
Web.
 Norman, David A. The Design of
Everyday Things (2002).
 Cooper, Alan; Reimann Robert M.
About Face 2.0: The Essentials of
Interaction Design (2003)

32. Evaluation & Remediation Tools
 Wave (Toolbar) – wave.webaim.org
 Functional Accessibility Evaluator 1.1
 https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/accessibility-evaluation-
toolb/
 Achecker –
 http://achecker.ca/
 Web Dev’l Toolbar
 https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/web-developer/

33. Accessing Higher Ground
Conference
Accessible Media, Web & Technology
 November 12 - 16, 2012
 Hands-on sessions on Web Access, Assistive
Technology
 Upcoming teleconferences
 Can purchase audio dvd of proceedings & access
materials & handouts online
 Westin Hotel - between Boulder & Denver
 www.colorado.edu/ATconference