An accessible learning object for children with blindness, low vision, color blindness, deafness and dyslexia. Built from the ground up on inclusive graphic design and web accessibility.
The brief was ambitious from day one: a digital learning experience that could truly work for children with blindness, low vision, color blindness, deafness and dyslexia. Not adapted later. Not bolted on at the end. Built for inclusion from the start.
It started as academic research at UNESP and grew into the foundation of my Master's dissertation in Design (UNESP, 2018). I wanted to answer a harder question, too: can accessibility decisions directly improve learning outcomes?
Accessibility wasn't a checklist. It became the design foundation.
Accessibility isn't a feature added at the end. It shapes every decision from the start.
Before opening any design tool, I spent time understanding the audience. I researched child development, cognitive and physical characteristics across different accessibility needs, and read studies on early childhood education.
At the same time, I went deep into Inclusive Graphic Design and digital accessibility, treating them less as rules, more as a design language.
The goal wasn't "make it accessible." It was understand how children experience the world and design from there.
I reviewed educational projects, accessibility manuals and digital products made for children with specific needs, looking for both patterns and gaps.
On the technical side, accessible structure, ARIA, screen reader behaviors. On the design side, typography, color, illustrations, motion and narration. Every decision had a reason behind it.
Then everything moved offline. Sketches, storyboards, character explorations and content mapping shaped the experience before any interface existed. Flows drawn and redrawn, ideas tested with peers, multiple iterations before production.
I designed and developed the experience directly in HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and recorded descriptive narrations for activities.
Testing was the most important phase of the project. Sessions happened through partner clinics with parental consent. Children interacted with the experience while I watched behaviors, caught friction points, and iterated on the spot.
Outcomes ✦ The Numbers
What the system unlocked for users, for teams, for the brand, after launch.
Children with deafness, low vision, dyslexia, color blindness and no disabilities participated across multiple scenarios.
Low-vision participants regularly pushed browser zoom to its limits, completely reshaping how I thought about scalable typography.
Accessibility isn't one-size-fits-all. Small design decisions create very different experiences depending on the audience.
Findings ✦ Per-Profile
Usability testing surfaced sharp, specific lessons. The kind that only arrive by watching a real child, not by reading a WCAG clause.
Visual storytelling carried the experience naturally. Narration became reinforcement instead of dependency.
The original typography wasn't enough. Participants immediately increased browser zoom, reinforcing that scalable content should be treated as a core design principle.
Most activities worked smoothly, but some typographic choices created friction and highlighted an important lesson: accessibility-friendly design is much more nuanced than selecting a font.
The Special Poets directly inspired my Master’s dissertation, “Parâmetros gráfico-inclusivos para o desenvolvimento de objetos de aprendizagem digitais voltados ao público infantil” (UNESP, 2018), advised by Prof. Dr. Cassia Leticia Carrara Domiciano.
The research formalized the principles I'd been testing into a set of graphic-inclusive parameters for digital learning objects, covering typography, color, media, interactive elements and web accessibility, cross-referenced with WCAG and E-MAG.
A field study with nine children, supported by eye-tracking technology, validated the parameters with users with and without specific learning needs (dyslexia, blindness, low vision, color blindness, deafness). Inclusive Graphic Design as a practical tool for educators and designers, not only a theoretical lens.
The Team
Gratitude to the cross-functional crew that made this one real, and to the testers who kept us honest.