Accessible infographics
What exactly is an infographic? An infographic is a clear way of presenting information in graphic form. It is designed to convey complex data to the audience in the clearest and most accessible way possible...
What exactly is an infographic? An infographic is a clear way of presenting information in graphic form. It is designed to convey complex data to the audience in the clearest and most accessible way possible. An infographic is meant to catch the eye and make it easy to take in its content. An example of such an infographic is the Warsaw Metro map:
Accessible infographics
When creating an infographic, we need to keep the audience in mind. If we want to build a website that is friendly to people with various disabilities, we must make sure that the infographics we create are made in the right way. Below I describe a few important points we must not forget when designing an accessible infographic:
- Layout - We need to make sure our infographic follows a logical layout. This is helpful for people with intellectual disabilities. In addition, the text should be written in a clear and straightforward way.
- Contrast - We must remember to maintain sufficient contrast so that the text is clearly visible and legible. By ensuring appropriate contrast and colours, we help people with low vision and people with colour blindness. A free tool that checks contrast against WCAG standards can help with this, available at: https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/.
- Font - The font should be legible, without italics, sans-serif, etc. - in general a simple and readable typeface, with a minimum size of 10/13px
- All links and buttons should be described with a role and an aria-label so that the user knows what each link is for. All links must be distinguishable from the rest of the text.
