Visual accessibility in graphic design: A client-designer communication failure

It is essential that graphic design is visually clear and accessible. However, evidence suggests that a lack of consideration is given to visual accessibility in print-based graphic design. Furthermore, effective client designer communication is a vital component in this. This paper investigates current graphic design practice, with regard to visual accessibility, specifically focussing on client designer communication. A survey of 122 graphic designers and clients identified that these two groups may not be communicating with each other effectively with regard to visual accessibility, and that there is a need to develop inclusive design tools to assist them with this. This paper adds a novel contribution to our limited understanding of visual accessibility in the UK's graphic design industry. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).