I read the article “Deafness and the user experience” by Lisa Herrod, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it because the recommendations and solutions that they suggest to make websites accessibility for deaf and hard hearing people effective, are excessive and non practical. But I should admit; that before this article, I hadn’t idea of how hard it is for somebody that had lost the hearing sense also is  social isolated, because the rest of the world doesn’t care about communicate effectively with them.

What I think is that effective communication is about clarity and accuracy, which sometimes mean have clear guidelines to assure that you message would be effectively delivered. In order to make this we can take radical positions, because people that are in position to make changes, when they found articles like this one, end with confusion and no commitments so ever. I had experienced this every time that I read an article about web design written by developers, at the repeating messages are; “content more important than image” and “simplicity is the trend for contemporary designers”. So I start to kill my creativity and hide who i am, to fit in this world to find at the end that my world it’s just different.

The deaf and hard hearing community experiences the same “out the place feeling” but they don’t have another option when they work and study like everyone else does, with the difference that they often miss more than us.

It’ wasn’t until one of my classmates (hard of hearing) used an interpreter on my web strategies class, that i understood that what we do it’s not enough, that he needs sign language, because that his language and not captioning, and that the sometimes scare face of my professor and dumb face that the rest of the class do when the interpreter does her job, and a impenetrable silence took control of the room, then I knew that with don’t have any dawn clue what means to be deaf.  

Despite what the author say about captioning, I believe that some help its better that none. We can expect that companies that make violent video games for teenagers care about websites with accessibility support for the deaf community. However, it’s mandatory that the receive some help.

What i think it’s that instead claim help, should be suggested, but for reasons that they really are interested. They are not interested in minorities, but yet in consumers, which they are too. So creating official and clear sites like w3c standards for designers and developers, it’s a way to short that professional gag between web Design: why not we do the same for accessibility guidelines?

It would be a way to aware a new generation of designers and clients to easiest and practical way to reach and communicate as much people we can, which is a sacred marketing statement (that it’s where the money come from), and I’m sure that with the whole design community working in that, the new technologies to accessibility will start to arrived.

I think that actually we don’t have the technology to solve it, but instead a software or an interpreter for every website, my suggestion it’s to develop of anew language based of sign language simplified only for web interpretation. It would be like text messaging; simple.

They need visual support, and captioning its fine. It’s just not in their language.

It’s time people to think on people with disabilities. I said people with disabilities because what we have that they lost it’s too valuable. It can’t be bought it or replaced. So need to be compensated, with understanding and adaptation opportunities, like they were someone of our family.

What exactly to do? I’d say start to work, to talk and to integrate them in those solutions. They are deaf but no brainless, and are the ones that maybe have the solution but not the knowledge and power to make some changes. We should give them the fair chance to dream with a world that understand them and make them, finally part of them.

I hope those designers that read this, could read the captions of hope not the disgusting ignorance that plague our work corrupting the faith of people that are immersed in world where the sound is forever gone and the written words sing tales of a better future and a brightest day.

Taking care of you user needs, it’s the main reason why there should be a team of professionals providing support and no just a lonely designer/developer, bursting his eyes and making mistakes that affect only our most precious possession; our user. Once in a while It’s necessary refresh the minds of the user with more than content or simply maintenance because the user its constantly exposed to new websites, and technologies that stressed him out and make him questioning if something better out there. Often, if the company behind the web site decide ignore this, the user will go away.

One of the most commented redesigns lately had been the FaceBokk, social site redesign, which maybe almost everybody that reads this blog probably are members of it. Facebook made design’s choices that improved the user’s experience on the site. However they failed in communicating properly to the user, how the changes would improve the site; helping to reduce the user anxiety and facilitating the adoption process of the alterated UI.

I remember messages of my Facebooks’ friends and even groups invitation, against the facebook’s redesing and thefear of this change would affect the privacy of the members.Well, in fact being part of a social website and don’t being having accounted to make the improvements, make you feel rejected and finally It make you lose the trust.

An efective communication, It’s all about timimg; when you said and how you said it. If Facebook provide aids to help understand the new improvements, why they not provided aids to point the changes to make?

There are many reasons why a redesing could fail, but for me the main reason It’s the arrogance that certain departments or profesionals in charge use, trying to figure over the user claims. The user always know why he needs and why he likle it, we don’t. That’s why like designers we neeed to stop believing that we know what they likes without even testing it before our target groups, and existence users. We definitely owe some respect to them, and they can easily take place like a guide to a well- accepted User Interface’s Redesing.

Concluding this post with everything already said, I hope you don’t forget these two points, that I consider critical in the process despite of the technical steps already taken. these are:

• Make only changes that benefit the user experience and will get him closer to you.
• Let your users know about upcoming changes, reasons why you doing it, and benefits that they could get if it’s done. Don’t forget to give them the chance to give you a valuable feedback.

Finally, Don’t be afraid to take a leap of faith when you are redesigning, because it’s about a change and you need to be creative to make those relevant changes. However, keeps in mind that if your leap leads to the abysm, you would we jumping alone, my friend.

Learn that an ugly but clear web design should be goo web designer’s final goal was painful for me, and I still do not accepting it. I believe that you can balanced both, and like an advertising designer, I can tell something than developers and the industry rarely think about and is in the communications strategies based on the target group of the users. They need to being inform in a way that is attractive to them and the same time clear,

No just huge white or grey pages full of just words, like a mental institution full of white

or green, cold tiles. 

Communicate effectively is more than follow the rest of American or Uk developers way of think. It’s care about your user and don’t be afraid to experiment new ways to communicate a message, because a designer that restrain himself, lost that creativity on time that is urgently need in this time when every new project “It’s a remake of something known”.  

That is why like a Designer I do not support the restraining for web designs,  however I support  the idea than a website ultimate goal is to be found and to be mentioned,  giving and extra focus to the content but having in account the diversity of the web population but understanding the easy category that nobody mentions but for me it’s the obvious, and it’s the likes, hobbies, and professional influences that make designers or visual people go away in less than 5 second form e-commerce website that look organized and full of items, like a bad newspaper insert, that satisfy developers needs and database use of new applications, bad a low blow to users than expect amore friendly and warmly UI with a personal greeting, because at the end We are in the Interactive era, and how you would interact with a design which you can’t identify yourself?

I can tell that for me, the future of the Internet is become a digital universe, and every device or technology that can be include in this miss, would become in a hot product like mobile devices and gps devices, which bring our daily basis environment to the web. Mobile devices with lcd touch screens are the interactive challenge of future Web designers, for the level of intimacy that an user reach walking on the park, surfing your website while enjoying a fresh breeze. That’s our new task, adapt to a more personal and direct language with the user, understand its needs and finally surprising him with a practical, easy, interactive likeable product, that would make him feel that finally he has a world at his hands… literally