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Blind and Visually Impaired Community

Full History - 2022 - 07 - 08 - ID#vuedx7
7
Accessibility tools for digital art & design? (self.Blind)
submitted by visionloss_maybe
I'm a visual designer (i.e. I build brochures and social media graphics, not full websites.) I have some increasingly disruptive neuro-vision problems that may or may not get much, much worse. Right now I muddle through ok, but want to plan ahead if it does continue to degenerate so I don't have to completely change careers.

I'm less worried about color than I am about placement and alignment. Think: blurred, ghosting and seeing 20 multiples of every blurred, ghosting thing (and glasses don't help.) Essentially: the little guidelines on InDesign are not going to be visible to me.


Anyone happen to have experience with this? Should I just practice getting very, very good at using XY coordinates?
JackFrostsKid 3 points 1y ago
For sure look into another career path as a fail safe, but I can tell you what I use, granted, I work on Procreate rather than any adobe products. I also don't specialize in graphic design by any means, as much as I just draw stuff to put on Redbubble and the like.

There isn't any official app you can do to make these things easier to do, but looking through your settings to make things work for you is very possible.

I like to make sure that every (flat) color is it's own separate layer. This allows me to move things more easily should I place them in any weird position, or feel that things aren't aligned properly.

Procreate also allows me to change the color and width of lines. This makes them much easier to see, but I recommend seeing if your program has a snapping or magnet feature you can enable. that will allow your panels to sort of snap into place, and be moved in somewhat equal spacing.
visionloss_maybe [OP] 1 points 1y ago
Yes, thank you for the tips! I am now realizing I can change the color and width of the *object* outlines in addition to the guides for placement, which was already on my radar. Then I can switch them back to the "real" settings.

Adobe does have alignment tools, which I'm already making liberal use of. I also don't need to stay in Adobe for most of what I do if something better comes along; it's just what I grew up with.
[deleted] 2 points 1y ago
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visionloss_maybe [OP] 1 points 1y ago
These are SO MANY words for me to google and I'm super excited to begin digging into this! Thank you for the encouraging lead. I'm being realistic, but I also know I'm not the first person to deal with this. I'm also ADHD so I generally live outside the box anyway.
MostlyBlindGamer 2 points 1y ago
I'd suggest you change your guides color to something that contrasts better, but I'd also plan ahead and look for something to pivot into. For what it's worth, making screen reader accessible PDFs is a herculean task and you're probably already prepared to specialize into that.
visionloss_maybe [OP] 2 points 1y ago
Yeah, accessible production design is definitely something I'm considering as a pivot! That line of work tends not to be very ADHD-friendly though (lolsob) so I'm trying to see whether it's feasible and realistic for me to keep the career I have.
MostlyBlindGamer 1 points 1y ago
Ah, if only there were a field immune to disability discrimination.

Still, a lot of your skills will still be relevant, even if you decide you do want to work with the web and such.
SiriuslyGranger 2 points 1y ago
The simple stark reality is there is none, and most blind people don’t do this. I think if it gets worse look and prepare for a career change. This is one of them that you can’t really do as a blind person. Other forums of art yes.
visionloss_maybe [OP] 2 points 1y ago
Yeah, I'm aware this is a real possibility. Design is already a career change for me so I'm hoping I can keep it going if I can. I also have ADHD and finding something that is ADHD friendly and *also* pays my bills is tricky enough. But life ain't fair so I'm looking into all my options.
SiriuslyGranger 0 points 1y ago
I see. Well I hope you find something maybe some type of tactile design?
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