{"id":1716,"date":"2016-05-17T11:56:01","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T10:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/?p=1716"},"modified":"2020-08-25T16:49:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-25T15:49:00","slug":"readability-is-accessibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shopjessicabuckley.com\/blog\/readability-is-accessibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Readability is accessibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I think about what it means to know, I find myself going back to language, to words. I wonder, for example, when I\u2019m looking at a website, how do I learn about it in order for me to use it? I don\u2019t believe the senses are enough to really understand what\u2019s going on - we\u2019re just simply aware that things are happening. What the written word does is inform us on what something is about<\/em>, to give identities to things.<\/p>\n

If we think about it, the majority of the web is still typebased. It\u2019s never enough for a website to just look pretty. Designing for the web means we have to think about the content that will be on there and the information we want to communicate. If we want to be better communicators, we must be better writers.<\/p>\n

Writing is deeply connected to design. Writing is thinking, and we should all learn how to think. When it comes down to it, all work should be about solving problems for people first before we start thinking about colour codes and typefaces etc,. Writing before designing cultivates brainstorming, reflection, the maturing of an idea. Jonas Downey, product designer at Basecamp<\/a>, praises the writing-first<\/a>\u00a0approach to design:<\/p>\n

\"A quick way to measure a designer's maturity is to watch what they do at the beginning of a project. Inexperienced designers are often smitten by the allure of new tools and quick results, so they'll jump into Photoshop or Sketch and start messing with layouts and style explorations. Seasoned designers know this can be distracting, so they might start by doing research or drawing in a paper sketchbook instead.\"<\/span><\/section>\n

Before design can happen, the idea must be explored and developed. Eric Karjuluoto, founding partner at smashLAB<\/a>, notices that \u201ca whole generation of designers compromises the strength of their ideas by jumping to a computer too quickly.\u201d \u201cDesign\" he asserts, \"is not solely visual<\/a>. Those who believe it is make an unconscious decision to confine themselves solely to the craft. This limits these individuals from growing and taking on more complex and broad challenges.\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s always interesting to ask someone how they define their work, because it determines the process of how they work, which in turn determines their goal. Job titles can restrict us in that way because everything is seen through a lens. If we neglect words we tend to neglect the message. And when there\u2019s no message, there\u2019s no impact.<\/p>\n