Seeing Through Different Eyes
Why Designing for People with Blindness and Low Vision Matters
Imagine walking into a building you have never visited before. The floor is a busy geometric pattern.
Signage is small and grey on white.
The staircase blends into the wall behind it.
For someone living with glaucoma, macular degeneration, or diabetic retinopathy, it can be confronting and isolating.
This is what our team experienced somewhat firsthand, thanks to Vision Australia.
What a headset taught us
Vision Australia kindly loaned our office their VR headset, which simulates a range of eye conditions including cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy. It also simulates the impact of these conditions in poorly designed internal spaces with low contrast, small fonts, and no window treatments, as well as the benefits of better-designed environments with higher contrast, stair nosing, window treatments to prevent glare, larger font and images.
The experience was extremely well received by our team. It imparted a better understanding of why key design elements, such as contrast, stair nosing, and clear wayfinding, which we integrate into our work every day, are so critical in our architectural projects enabling people to use these environments independently and confidently.
The VR headset had a mixed-reality component, which allowed us to test how our own office performed. Some things worked well, particularly the contrast in our finishes, whilst other elements highlighted where improvements should be made. It made us consider how such a tool could be adopted and used to test our designs before they are constructed.
We highly recommend that other designers and architects seek out this experience. It deepens understanding in a way that no guideline document can replicate.
The stats
Compliance vs Inclusive Design
Blindness and low vision is far more common than most people realise. Vision Australia estimates there are 453,000 people in Australia who are blind or have low vision. Of these 45,300 (approx. 10%) are blind and 407,700 (approx. 90%) have low vision. Vision Australia predicts that the number of Australians living with vision-related disability will grow to more than 564,000 by 2030, driven largely by an ageing population. Globally, 65% of people with vision impairment are over 50 years of age, despite that age group comprising only 20% of the world's population.
The conditions simulated in the Vision Australia headset are not rare conditions. They are the conditions affecting a significant and growing share of the people who will use the buildings we design today.
In Australia, the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the National Construction Code define accessibility as a legal right, not an optional feature. But many buildings still meet only the bare minimum, creating technical compliance without practical usability and consideration of how people feel in these environments.
A building can tick every regulatory checkbox and still leave someone with low vision disoriented, anxious, or at risk of injury. Meeting mandated minimum requirements does not guarantee that the needs of all users will be met. A well-considered design that affords intuitive wayfinding, promotes safety, and allows people to thrive goes further in providing environments that more people feel comfortable in and will use.
Inclusive design is moving from a compliance conversation to a design quality conversation. It requires engagement with user groups to gain a true understanding of what is needed from the environment.
Design elements for people with blindness and low vision
For people with blindness and low vision, the key design considerations include:
Contrast. The relationship between surfaces - floors to walls, stair nosings to treads, door frames to surrounding walls - is critical for spatial orientation. Repetitive high-contrast floor patterns can cause significant difficulty for people with low vision, who may interpret strong pattern edges as steps or level changes, leading to hesitation, disorientation, and loss of confidence. Contrast must be considered deliberately, not decoratively.
Stair nosings. Clearly delineated stair nosings in a contrasting colour or material are one of the most straight forward mandatory interventions available.
Wayfinding. Clear, consistent, well-lit signage with appropriate font size, colour contrast, and placement is not just good inclusive design. It is how a building communicates to its users that they are welcome and considered.
Lighting. Glare is a significant issue for many eye conditions. Thoughtful lighting design that avoids harsh transitions between bright and dark zones makes a material difference to navigability and comfort. Also, the inclusion of window treatments for people to control their environment.
Tactile surfaces. Tactile Ground Surface Indicators, the raised dots or lozenges you see on the pavement and alongside station platforms, are required in certain situations to warn people who are blind or have low vision of a hazard. While these should not be replaced, in certain situations there is an opportunity to incorporate different surface treatments that help signal transitions between different zones within a space. Any such treatments should be carefully selected to ensure they do not create barriers or discomfort for other people, including people who use wheelchairs or other mobility aids.
Although many of these design elements are required for minimum compliance in commercial projects, they are most overlooked in residential projects. Given the statistics, we as designers should educate clients on the benefits of these design elements and integrate them into residential projects as well. It will allow for more people to age in place, which tends to be most people’s preference.
A designer’s responsibility
The built environment we create today will be used by people with a range of needs. Some of those people are our current clients. More will be future occupants, visitors, and community members whose needs we are shaping decisions for now, whether we factor them in or not.
Designing inclusively is not a constraint on creativity. It can be an expression of it if integrated from the conception of a design through to occupancy, and not as an afterthought. Ultimately, design exists for people, so who are we designing for, if not to ensure that everyone can benefit? The best buildings do not just look good, they work well for everyone inside them.
Emily Sproule, Architect
Emily Sproule is an architect at Elevation Architecture with a focus on inclusion in the built environment. If you would like to talk about how inclusive design can be embedded in your next project, reach out to Emily directly at emily@elevationarchitecture.com.au