Ford Motor Company

Problem: Another team was exploring a solution to display errors on their page. A solution needed to be developed that did not pose accessibility issues.

Actions: With the education I received in my “Designing for Accessibility” couse, I was able to educate the team about visual impairments. We conducted a micro-usability test with 5 representative users. Two of the participants had red-green colorblindness. The design team used a Chrome extension called “Colorblinding” to simulate colorblindness. Data was combined and synthesized through affinity mapping.

Results: The design team presented the findings and recommendations to the team. Three options were presented as possible solutions.

Lessons Learned: I was able to bridge the gap between my education and a real-world scenario. Communication with a team other than my own was a great learning opportunity. We had to communicate carefully and consistently to ensure expectations were understood on both sides. Our team asked a manager in our group to participate in the testing to show the benefits of usability testing. This continued to add to his buy-in with human centered design.