Low Glare, High Contrast

Since many appliance control panels are flat, smooth surfaces, I have been concentrating on adding texture. Tactile recognition research is the reason I started this project. But if I really want to make a simple yet effective appliance template, then maybe I have overlooked something by focusing only on tactile cues.

Of people that are classified as visually impaired, less than 20% are totally blind. Perhaps we can improve the visual aspect of the interface for the more than 80% that have some level of visual ability.

What factors improve an interface for people with low vision? Low glare and high contrast. Low glare is easy to accomplish because the templates are covered in clear shelf liner. I love that stuff - it is cheap, has the right amount of stickiness and is low glare. To create high contrast I have two options. First idea is to use a high contrast material to outline the control buttons. Second option is to create my own interface using high contrast colors with bold shapes and numbers. I design the interface, print it, cover it with shelf liner and place it over the test fixture interface with the tactile templates.

In addition I added a beep for every button press in the test fixture program. Those subtle beeps are very helpful - think about that the next time you use an ATM machine.

In Human-Computer Interface (HCI) terms, the test fixture will present a multi-modal interface. It will interact with multiple senses - sight, touch, hearing. Sometimes multi-modal interfaces are helpful and sometimes not. What you touch has to match what you see and what you hear. If they are not in sync, it can be confusing.

Which visual interface below is better for someone with low vision?

This picture is the default test fixture interface. It is typical of many microwave interfaces that you find on the market today (from 'The World is Flat' lab note).

 

This next image is one I designed for people with low vision. The numbers are bigger, it is high contrast, no confusing colors and most words are replaced by easy to distinguish shapes. (Note I'm not in total control of the image sizes but both layouts are the same actual size.)

 

Any thoughts or comments?

Hopefully the test starts next week! Stay tuned...

Thank you for reading! anne