Envisioning mobile apps for audio description: exploring universal design of national park service brochures

Abstract

Unigrid" design specifications created by Massimo Vignelli have provided the standards for the layout of paper brochures at U.S. National Park Service sites for more than three decades. These brochures offer visitors a familiar analog presentation of visual information, blending text, photographs, maps, and illustrations. These materials, however, are not accessible to people who are blind, have low vision, or a print disability. The National Park Service for decades has been challenged -- by requirements and principle -- to offer alternate formats that provide equivalent experiences and information of these print materials. In other words, people who are blind or visually impaired should have access to a "brochure" experience, too. This exploratory study, funded by the National Park Service, takes a new approach to this long-term problem by conducting a content analysis of current Unigrid brochures to determine their fundamental components, found in practice. This components-based approach is intended to provide clear pathways for cross-modal translation of the printed material into audio-described media, which then, can be efficiently distributed via mobile apps, as an extension of these original components.