How can you design digital content for individuals with cognitive or learning disabilities?

The approach applied here for target user research can be similar to clinical studies, rather than marketing studies. Cohorts choice, measurement of perceived satisfaction and discrete choice experiments.

Sometimes, it is not enough to just understand. Some experience need to be lived to know what works for people. So, where you can, get people with cognitive disabilities involved. Using collaborative/participatory design methods will not only provide you with a new perspective which is vital for creativity but also allow you to create ideas for solutions that can truly fit into the lives of people with cognitive disabilities. The people who know their needs best are those who are living with the challenges and chances are they have already creating solutions for themselves that can inspired your work. These design methods embody the phrase “nothing about us without us”.

In my view, taking the time to observe or study individuals who are potential end users for a specific group of learning disabilities can offer valuable insights from a different angle. Furthermore, integrating tests involving various sounds, colours, or animations as components of interviews or surveys can enhance our understanding.

Para personas con TDAH (transtorno de déficit de atención e hiperactividad) es muy útil cuando los contenidos tienen párrafos cortos, están priorizados y bien jerarquizados. Por ejemplo, al ver contenido online o realizar una capacitación asincrónica, necesito módulos cortos, interactivos y con resúmenes al final del mismo. Esto me permite mantener la atención durante el vídeo y hacer un recap final de lo más importante. Por eso es importante diseñar teniendo en cuenta las necesidades específicas de las neurodiversidades.

Designing for cognitive disabilities is like crafting a puzzle that fits everyone's unique piece. I once worked on a news app and learned this lesson. We interviewed users with diverse cognitive needs. It was like trying to find the right headline for every reader, from crossword lovers to sudoku enthusiasts. Example: When designing a news app, we interviewed users with cognitive disabilities, tailoring content to suit their unique needs. It was like finding the perfect puzzle piece for each reader, making the news accessible and engaging for all.

Gamify, gamify, gamify. The process of learning is supercharged when play is involved. This rings true across the board, no matter the disability one might face, maybe even more so in such cases. Games and humor are the key to the pupil's heart. If you want people to remember, you have to make sure they remember that you made them FEEL good. Make sure they remember fondly, and if you manage to also be remembered for a unique, whimsical or even just plain weird idea or story then you're gold! Temperance in this regard is equally important. The last thing you want is to be a clown, trying to appear funny and failing monumentally. If you can exude fun in an organic way, students will flock to you, seeing a not just a teacher, but a mentor.

When it comes to designing for users with cognitive disabilities, it is important to note that people with cognitive disabilities are all different. Rather than relying on assumptions or, potentially, harmful stereotypes, it would behoove UX practitioners to reach out directly to users with cognitive disabilities. In an ideal world, inclusion and accessibility would start at the very beginning of any UX project. Designing for differently-abled individuals should not just be a requirement we check off at the end of the project, but a continuous effort that should be front and center to any designer/researcher who strives to nurture good UX practices.

I would recommend shadowing users in their day-to-day, also outside the product use, to help build empathy and deeper understanding. Open interviews can also offer some insight and deeper understanding and empathy before jumping into product-specific feedback only. When conducting research and creating personas, bring an intersectional mind to the table. No person with a disability is defined by one aspect - make sure you have a comprehensive understanding that takes into count complexities such as belonging to multiple minorities (e.g. LGBTIQA+ community). It can be helpful to have someone with lived experience in your team, but make sure you respect their boundaries, e.g. how much of their personal experiences they are willing to share

In my experience, when conducting research for individuals with cognitive or learning disabilities, it has been crucial to also include those people who provide continuous support to these users, such as caregivers, assistants, teachers, and specialized medical professionals. These people provide valuable insights, enabling us to access high-value data, reducing the number of arduous tests or tasks for the users.

Think of simplifying content for cognitive disabilities as creating a recipe even a child can follow. When designing a cooking app, we made our recipes crystal clear. No complicated chef lingo, just straightforward steps. Example: In our cooking app, we simplified recipes, making them easy to follow. It was like a child could cook a gourmet meal. Keep it simple, just like a kid-friendly recipe!

Start with the basics and design in sophistication as you go or the user evolves/grows more confident. Design for the lowest common denominators and then advance from there after engagement grows.

It is true that a coherent and simple visual code helps to understand it, but, at the same time, the "landscape" must have accidents and irregularities. Squares, alleys, statues and orography; landmarks that guide us and make it easier for us to remember the routes. This translates into creating codes with our entire arsenal: typographic weights, icons, color, photos, composition and that are always easily associated with the semantics of the content. It doesn't matter if the elements are redundant, literal or unsubtle. I insist: let's be generous with giving clues.

It's really important to show a clear visual hierarchy so the importance of different elements can be implied (via their size, boldness, colour, spacing). This need to be combined with a healthy amount of whitespace so the visual hierarchy can be identified by anyone, without being obscured by trying to cram too much in. A good amount of whitespace will aid concentration and a natural visual flow when looking at a page which will help individuals with cognitive or learning disabilities absorb and follow the information.

Make your content clear, concise, and consistent. Use plain language, short sentences, and active voice. Use headings, subheadings, bullet points, and white space to structure your content and make it easy to scan. Supplement your text with images, icons, audio, video, or animations, but avoid using too many or distracting elements. ✔ Use high-contrast colors and large fonts. ✔ Provide alternative text for images and videos. ✔ Use clear and concise labels for all buttons and other interactive elements. ✔ Provide keyboard shortcuts for all interactive elements. ✔ Use a consistent layout and design throughout the content. ✔ Test the content with people with cognitive or learning disabilities to ensure that it is accessible to them.

Crafting clear and concise content is crucial for individuals with cognitive or learning disabilities. Follow these guidelines: ✔ Use plain language and avoid jargon. ✔ Employ short sentences and active voice. ✔ Incorporate familiar words and concepts. ✔ Structure your content with headings, subheadings, and bullet points. ✔ Utilize images, icons, audio, video, or animations to supplement text. ✔ Avoid distracting elements that may overwhelm users.

Designers and Developers have to work together on a daily basis to accomplish steps towards a content simplification not just on how the things look like, but how they are organized. Frequently I use board commands on websites, but not all of them work well, or I can't even navigate. Going through an accessibility test such as speech recognition on an unorganized code structure can be pretty tough to find what you want to find. As a designer, basic knowledge of code always helps you to get a better check if what looks simple actually is.

To enhance digital content for individuals with cognitive or learning disabilities, clarity is key. Employing straightforward language, brief sentences, and a consistent tone can make information more digestible. Organizing content with clear headings, bullet points, and ample white space helps users navigate and comprehend material better. While visuals and multimedia can enrich text, it's vital to balance them to prevent cognitive overload, ensuring a user-friendly experience that communicates effectively without causing confusion or distraction.

Ici, je n'ai pas forcément le sentiment d'apprendre grand chose qui soit "applicable". C'est pour moi la base de l'UX Design de simplifier son contenu. Ce qu'il serait intéressant de mettre en exergue, c'est plutôt de quelle manière il faut simplifier, à quel point il faut simplifier, quels sont les impacts des troubles cognitifs ou d'apprentissages sur la compréhension de contenus "classiques" ? Peut-être qu'un exemple concret aiderait à visualiser. De même "évitez d'utiliser trop d'éléments ou des éléments distrayants" : comme quoi ? Je trouve qu'il manque un chouïa d'exemples : éviter des gifs, des vidéos en lecture automatique...

Designing for cognitive disabilities is like being a caring teacher. In a language learning app project, we ensured clear labels, encouraging feedback, and hints. It was like guiding students step by step to fluency. Example: In a language learning app, we provided clear labels, positive feedback, and helpful hints. It felt like being a supportive teacher, boosting users' confidence, and making the journey enjoyable.

The best example for this is "Duolingo". They have a seamless user experience. Giving small rewards or appreciating users in exchange of reading their content or giving a exam is a very simple yet clever method to enhance the UX.

Also support your feedback with simple and understandable icons, Use animations to make the instructions and the experience in general more user friendly and enjoyable to use.

In designing digital content for individuals with cognitive or learning difficulties, the key to effectiveness lies in ensuring clarity through intuitive interactive elements, visible labels, and motivational feedback while maintaining a balance to prevent cognitive overload.

The provided content provides a good overview of the importance of providing feedback and guidance in digital content for individuals with cognitive or learning disabilities. However, there are some areas where the content could be improved to make it more accessible: 👉 Use simple and easy-to-understand language. Avoid using jargon or technical terms that may not be familiar to all users. 👉 Break down complex tasks into smaller steps. This will make the content easier to follow and understand. 👉 Use visual aids to illustrate key concepts. This can help users to better understand the content. 👉 Provide opportunities for practice and feedback. 👉 This will help users to solidify their understanding of the content.

Further, use plain language, short sentences, active voice, and familiar words to make content easy to comprehend. Avoid jargon, complex sentences, and passive voice.

In crafting digital content for those with cognitive or learning disabilities, it's critical to incorporate elements that offer feedback and facilitate guidance. This can be achieved through the use of distinctly labeled buttons and links, ensuring users understand their interactions with the content. Features like progress bars, clear confirmations, error alerts, and helpful hints can significantly aid in navigation and task completion. Positive reinforcement through praise or digital rewards can also play a vital role in motivating users and fostering a sense of accomplishment, thereby enhancing their engagement and confidence while using the content.

tokenization is a great way to create positive feedback from your digital content. interactive content that gives feedback or rewards content consumers creates a dynamism that increases engagement and eventually conversions based on task, goal achievements tweaked with 'gamed' features like sound notifications as progress indicators

Oferecer feedback e orientação em conteúdo digital é um passo crucial para melhorar a experiência do usuário. Isso não apenas ajuda aqueles com dificuldades cognitivas, mas também torna a interação digital mais amigável para todos.

Ensuring accessibility for cognitive disabilities is like making sure everyone can enjoy the same party, no matter their dance style. In a social event planning app project, we had to ensure everyone could RSVP, even those who preferred a quiet gathering to a wild dance floor. Example: In our social event planning app, we followed the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to ensure all users, regardless of cognitive abilities, could navigate and enjoy the party planning experience. It was like designing an event where everyone could dance to their own rhythm.

Keep your system flexible. Allow users to Increase or decrease the font size or contrast ratio at will, and let them have the full freedom to switch on/off additional graphics/micro-interactions that might not harm the content. Giving full control over the interface makes their journey a more pleasurable and of course a memorable one.

Ensuring that digital content is accessible and compatible is a critical step in the design process for users with cognitive or learning disabilities. This involves adhering to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to guarantee that content meets the required standards of accessibility. Utilizing various tools to validate and enhance accessibility helps in fine-tuning the content for inclusivity. Moreover, it's essential to verify that the content functions seamlessly across a range of devices, browsers, and assistive technologies like screen readers and magnifiers, to accommodate the diverse ways in which users may engage with the content.

Ensuring digital content accessibility for individuals with cognitive or learning difficulties involves meticulous adherence to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), accompanied by regular assessments using validators and testers to guarantee compatibility across diverse devices and assistive technologies.

Provide multiple ways to access and understand information. Use a combination of text, images, icons, audio, video, or animations to cater to different learning styles and preferences. Maintain consistency in design elements, navigation, and user interactions. This helps users anticipate what to expect and reduces confusion.

creating adaptive and responsive content is at the apex of well structured content. There are tools and technologies already developed to enable compatibility and accessibility. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 defines how to make Web content more accessible to people with disabilities. Accessibility involves a wide range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning, and neurological disabilities

Assegurar acessibilidade e compatibilidade em conteúdo digital é essencial para atender a todos, incluindo aqueles com dificuldades cognitivas. O destaque para as Diretrizes de Acessibilidade de Conteúdo da Web (WCAG) é um lembrete importante de seguir padrões que promovam um ambiente digital inclusivo.

Design for accessibility and compatibility by using clear language, organizing your content, providing multiple ways of conveying information, using descriptive labels, avoiding color alone, and supporting keyboard navigation. Test your content on different devices and browsers.

Testing and iterating for cognitive accessibility is like fine-tuning a musical performance. In a project for an e-learning platform, we tested the usability with students with various cognitive abilities. It was akin to adjusting the melody until everyone was in harmony. Example: In our e-learning platform, we tested with students having diverse cognitive needs. Just like perfecting a musical piece, we iterated the design to ensure everyone had an accessible and engaging learning experience.

This is definitely something that is underestimated. Testing early with users and learning from each usability test is very powerful, especially when designing for users with different needs.

Test and iterate to make sure your digital content is usable, effective, and satisfying for users with cognitive or learning disabilities. Add visual cues, provide multiple input and output options, make your content responsive, provide clear and concise instructions, and allow for customization. By following these suggestions, you can create digital content that is more accessible and engaging for all users.

Testing and iterating are crucial steps in creating digital content accessible to individuals with cognitive or learning difficulties. Ensuring usability, effectiveness, and user satisfaction requires testing with individuals facing such challenges, along with the use of metrics such as completion rates and feedback. Openness to comments and suggestions is essential, allowing for continuous adjustments to better meet the needs of the target audience. A dynamic and responsive approach is fundamental for success in delivering inclusive and quality content.

it has always been a concern that as technology advances, challenged individuals may miss on critical information given that new updates/ upgrades never considered them, like translations in audio or visual, running A/B tests analytics data may be a practical way to test these and iterate

Passo vital! Testar e aprimorar o conteúdo digital é essencial para atender às necessidades de todos os usuários. É importante medir o desempenho e estar disposto a melhorias contínuas.

Make sure you don't just "test" and "monitor", but "co-create" and "ideate" with your user groups. Don't just present a (half-finished) idea and ask for a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" - instead, dare to invite representatives from your user group to brainstorming workshops, present current challenges at hand, or discuss what works or doesn't work together in a focus group, before jumping to create solutions. Having regular meetings with "sponsor" users who follow and support your product development over time and act as a "corrective" force and stakeholder throughout the whole process can be helpful, or creating a "User Advisory Board" that acts just as your "Scientific Advisory Board" when it comes to improving your product.

When preparing content, it’s crucial to test with an audience reflective of actual users. Observe their behavioral responses to your content. Do they navigate it with ease or encounter obstacles? Does the content engage them and cater to their learning patterns? Assessing these behavioral changes and impacts will fine-tune your approach, ensuring your content is not just usable but truly beneficial to those with cognitive or learning disabilities.

Regularly test your content with individuals with cognitive or learning disabilities to identify and address any accessibility issues. Follow established accessibility guidelines, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, to ensure your content meets a minimum level of accessibility.

The fifth and ongoing step in designing inclusive digital content is the process of testing and iterating, which is essential to ensure usability and effectiveness for individuals with cognitive or learning disabilities. Real-user testing with the target audience provides invaluable insights, while expert reviews can offer a broader perspective on accessibility. Tracking metrics like completion rates and user satisfaction helps gauge the content's impact. Importantly, maintaining an openness to constructive feedback and being willing to refine and update the content is crucial for continuous improvement, ultimately leading to a more engaging and satisfying user experience.

Imagine a website called "InclusiWorld," a place where users of all abilities could seamlessly navigate. The final step: "Learn and Share," and boy, was it a game-changer! So, picture this: I decided to learn more about cognitive disabilities. I joined an online course. But it was no ordinary course; it was as fun as a video game! Each lesson felt like unlocking a new level, and I was the master gamer. In a nutshell, learning and sharing is the secret sauce. Just like I did, embrace resources, attend events, and collaborate with fellow designers. Be a UX hero, and together, we'll create a more accessible digital world. 💪✨

Continuous Learning As a user experience designer committed to accessibility and inclusion, it's crucial to maintain a growth mindset and continuously expand your knowledge base. This can be achieved through various methods, such as: Reading Watching Listening Networking Sharing Knowledge and Insights Once you've enriched your knowledge base, it's important to share your learnings and insights with others. This can be done through various channels, such as: Writing Presenting Mentoring Advocating for accessibility

One way I love to learn about different perspectives and struggles is by watching YouTubers and browsing subreddits with specific topics. It can be incredibly insightful.

Deux suggestions à retenir : Veille Continu : S'engager dans une démarche constante d'apprentissage en restant informé des dernières recherches Formation et Sensibilisation pour développer l'empathie

Get people with "cognitive or learning disabilities" to design the content or at least have a strong input. Mostly neurodiverse conditions are differences that are only considered to be 'disabilities' because they are ways of seeing the world that don't conform to the accepted definition of 'normal'. To be truly inclusive you need to ensure that design itself has representation from diverse ways of being and seeing the world.

There are increasingly more lawsuits every year based on sloppy, bad or missing inclusive design approaches in modern web design flows/application. It helps to have a method for UX Composite Scoring to aid organizations to have a line of site on some of the most simple fixes to web application structures (contrast, broken links, ARIA Labels, etc)

Regularly revisit your content strategy to ensure it remains effective. As time progresses, behaviors, attention spans, and technology use evolve. Continuously updating your strategy in response to these changes ensures that your digital content stays relevant and accessible for individuals with cognitive or learning disabilities, meeting their needs both now and in the future.

I really look up to Tim Berners-Lee, the guy who made the World Wide Web, which we all use to go online. Berners-Lee, through his work with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), has been instrumental in developing the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These guidelines have become the cornerstone of web accessibility, setting a global benchmark for inclusivity. It's this level of commitment to universal access that I, as a designer, find highly motivating. It serves as a powerful reminder that our work isn't just about aesthetics or functionality—it's about forging paths in the digital world that everyone can navigate with ease and dignity.

In my experience having input from end-user testing is key in UED. This will allow you to take in digital content from a different perspective and consider things you may not think of.

Designing digital content for individuals with cognitive or learning disabilities could be simplified through effective usability studies and asking the individuals directly what their needs are. They are no different from any other user in the fact that they too are a user (whether or not they need additional assistance). Remembering that users should be front and center in every design will make usability much more effective.

I think following tools can also be used: Eye-tracking technology, AR/VR glasses. AR/VR glasses will support differentiation in lessons. AI technology allows the creation of digital profiles (students and teachers) as well as the creation of learning situations and learning paths based on the student's needs and emotions. Emotions will play an important role in attractive learning situations.

A somewhat obvious approach is to include product walkthroughs using videos wherever possible. I worked on an app for security guards where we included video walkthoughs (including narrations) as we figured out that the user group is not as tech savvy.

• Text is foundation. Provide ability to sharpen, dither, scale, capitalize and color. Why dither you ask? Because some people read dithered text better. • Use active voice. • User verb-noun orientation when writing. The more verbs, the more the “action” is happening. Verbs are also easier to related to compared to other grammatical structures. • Use audio (and provide captioning and/or sub-titles). Effort? Yes. But then that was the question all along. • If your text appears inadequate, send it something like DALL-E or Bing Image Generator, and support your audience intuitively, contextually. (I do not get paid by OpenAI or Microsoft but good stuff is good)

Remember that accessibility helps EVERYONE, whether they have a diagnosed disability or not. Also, many people have learning and cognitive challenges (more than you'd think). As a teacher, I had many students with SPED or 504 designations and was required by law to provide accommodations. When I simply added accommodations to assignments, such as audio for articles, many students without these classifications used them. When I designed materials for a lesson and focused on making them accessible, more students would complete the assignment, whether they had a disability or not! When I used the materials created by companies like Pearson, very few students would complete them. This told me these products are often not usable.