When you are designing organizational or fundraising materials, how do you make them accessible and effective for all of your constituents?
Our constituents have different ways of understanding, expressing, communicating, and engaging. Modern brain science has highlighted how individual variability in the three systems of the brain – the strategic network, the recognition network, and the affective network-- determine how we learn. In response, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) provides design principles for responding to individual differences. Consider when designing materials:
The Why: provide multiple means of engagement— vary ways that you communicate goals, relevance, value, authenticity, choice, opportunities for reflection.
The What: provide multiple means of representing information – give users a choice of different forms ie: audio, visual, textual.
The How: Multiple means of action and expression—provide users with many ways to engage with your materials, vary how they respond and navigate, provide different ways for the user to communicate.
How do you currently apply these principles in your work?