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 challenge was ambitious from day one: create a digital learning experience that could truly work for children with blindness, low vision, color blindness, deafness and dyslexia. Not adapt later. Not add accessibility at the end. Build for inclusion from the start.
This project came from my academic research at UNESP and quickly became much bigger than a school project — it eventually became the foundation of my Master’s dissertation in Design (UNESP, 2018). Beyond applying Inclusive Graphic Design principles, I wanted to answer a harder question: can accessibility decisions directly improve learning outcomes?
Accessibility wasn't treated as a checklist. It became the design foundation.
Accessibility isn't a feature added at the end. It shapes every decision from the beginning.
Before opening any design tool, I spent time understanding the audience deeply. I researched child development, cognitive and physical characteristics across different accessibility needs, and explored books, papers and studies related to early childhood education.
At the same time, I went deep into Inclusive Graphic Design and digital accessibility principles, treating them less as rules and more as a design language.
The goal wasn't simply making something accessible. It was understanding how children experienced the world and designing from that perspective.
I reviewed educational projects, accessibility manuals and digital products created for children with specific needs, looking for both patterns and gaps.
On the technical side, I studied accessible structures, ARIA implementation and screen reader behaviors. On the design side, I explored typography, color systems, illustrations, motion and descriptive narration.
Every decision had a reason behind it.
Everything started offline.
Sketches, storyboards, character explorations and content mapping helped shape the experience before any interface existed. I created and refined flows, tested ideas with peers and iterated multiple times before moving into production.
I designed and developed the experience directly using HTML, CSS and JavaScript, while also recording descriptive narrations for activities.
Testing became one of the most important phases of the project. Sessions happened through partner clinics with parental consent, allowing children to interact with the experience directly while I observed behaviors, captured friction points and iterated in real time.
Outcomes ✦ The Numbers
What the system unlocked — for users, for teams, and 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 — lessons that would only arrive by watching a real child, not 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 had 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 guidelines.
A field study with a convenience sample of nine children, supported by eye-tracking technology, validated those parameters with users with and without specific learning needs (dyslexia, blindness, low vision, color blindness and deafness), positioning 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.